OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rama to visit Ukraine next week

TIRANA, 17 January 2020 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Edi Rama, will visit Ukraine next week for talks with high-level Ukrainian officials in Kyiv and travel to the east of the country.

In his capacity as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for 2020, Rama will hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, and Speaker of the Parliament Dmytro Razumkov on 20 January. A press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has been planned to follow the meeting with Foreign Minister Prystaiko.

The talks will focus on strengthening the co-operation between the OSCE and Ukraine, on the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, and on efforts towards a peaceful resolution.

In Kyiv, Rama will also meet with the SMM staff, the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, and his Special Representative in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group.

The next day he will visit eastern Ukraine to have a first-hand experience of the situation in conflict-affected areas and the work of the SMM.

This first official visit as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office by Rama reflects the great importance he attaches to the OSCE efforts to address the crisis in and around Ukraine, the most pressing challenge to security and stability in Europe today.

For more information about Albania's 2020 OSCE Chairmanship, please visit the OSCE website: https://www.osce.org/chairmanship