News and press releases
News and press releases from the OSCE's global activities.
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Edi Rama takes action to ensure operational continuity ahead of imminent vacancies of Secretary General and Heads of Institutions roles
Publishing date: 17 July 2020
TIRANA / VIENNA, 17 July 2020 – In a letter to the OSCE’s 57 participating States today, Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship announced that the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Edi Rama has taken prompt action to ensure the Organization’s operational continuity in light of the imminent vacancies of the OSCE Secretary General and the Heads of Institutions roles...
OSCE PA President Tsereteli urges de-escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, return to substantive negotiations
Publishing date: 16 July 2020
COPENHAGEN, 16 July 2020 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli has closely followed the situation along the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia and has been in contact this week with the countries’ OSCE PA delegations and relevant international actors. Today, he urged both sides to urgently de-escalate and to engage in “substantive negotiations"...
Sweden’s 2021 OSCE Chair to focus on Organization’s fundamental tasks, Deputy Foreign Minister Robert Rydberg tells Permanent Council
Publishing date: 16 July 2020
VIENNA / STOCKHOLM, 16 July 2020 – With the current pandemic putting a severe strain on societies all over the world, Sweden will take on the OSCE Chair in truly challenging times. This calls for a focus on the very fundamentals of the OSCE: the European security order, the comprehensive concept of security and continued efforts to resolve conflicts in the OSCE region, said Sweden’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Rydberg today, as he addressed the Permanent Council on the incoming Chair’s priority areas...
OSCE PA leaders criticize Belarus’s failure to extend timely invitation to observe election and to provide a level playing field for all stakeholders
Publishing date: 16 July 2020
COPENHAGEN, 16 July 2020 – The leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions expressed concern today that Belarus had failed to extend a timely invitation to the OSCE to observe its upcoming presidential election. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced yesterday that the lack of an invitation has prevented ODIHR from observing the election process...
Press Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office
Publishing date: 15 July 2020
VIENNA, 15 July 2020- After the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group today, its Co-Chairs (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk, released the following statement:
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office urges immediate return to ceasefire along Armenian-Azerbaijani border
Publishing date: 14 July 2020
VIENNA/TIRANA, 14 July 2020 – “I am deeply concerned by the increased violence we have seen along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and urge an immediate return to the ceasefire before we see any further loss of life,” said OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Edi Rama today.