News and press releases

On 28 and 29 May, the Heads of Asset Management Agencies from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Ukraine gathered in Skopje, North Macedonia for a meeting of the Steering Group of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN).

A regional conference on “Effective strategies for recovering stolen assets; management and disposal of seized, confiscated and returned assets and current issues related to crypto assets in the context of asset recovery” took place in Tashkent on 20-21 May. The event convened delegations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the host country, Uzbekistan, and was co-hosted by the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities Economic Governance Unit (OCEEA/EGU), the Transnational Threats Department Strategic Police Matters Unit (TNTD/SPMU) and the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia.

As part of its ongoing efforts to empower women in the energy transition, the OSCE organized a Training of Trainers (ToT) on how to become effective mentors. The event took place on 14 May in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and was organized in partnership with the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET).

From 21 to 24 May, the OSCE Secretariat, in co-operation with the OSCE Presence in Albania, held the South-Eastern Europe Youth Dialogue Forum on Youth Crime Prevention in Durrës, Albania. The Forum gathered around 20 young people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to build confidence and trust among youth in the region.

Climate change poses significant challenges for energy systems across the OSCE area. To help decision-makers and energy stakeholders build resilience, on 8 and 9 May 2024 in Vienna, the OSCE hosted the workshop “Building Climate-Resilient Energy Systems in the OSCE region”. Gathering over 50 experts from 12 different countries representing Central Asia, Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean, the workshop served as a platform to present the findings of the report assessing climate change risks to energy sectors and preparedness levels of the beneficiary countries, and to jointly identify ways forward.

In recent years, all Central Asian countries have set ambitious targets for renewable energy deployment and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Meeting these commitments in a sustainable and resilient manner will require efforts to ensure that the transition meets the needs of all segments of society, substantial investment in workforce development, particularly in renewable energy education and training, and increased participation of women in the field.

On 7 and 8 May, the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) and the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA), in co-operation with the OSCE Presence in Albania, organized a multi-stakeholder workshop to enhance inter-agency co-operation on youth crime prevention.