News and press releases

VIENNA, 22 June 2020 – The Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council, Ambassador Igli Hasani, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger expressed their deep concern about a recent serious incident involving threats to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) personnel and assets...

TIRANA/COPENHAGEN/VIENNA/WARSAW/THE HAGUE, 23 April 2020 – The International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace tomorrow will be marked with a heightened appreciation for the importance of comprehensive security and greater sense of urgency for the need to strengthen international co-operation, said the Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council and heads of OSCE institutions in a statement today...

TIRANA / VIENNA, 16 April 2020 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger welcomed today’s mutual release and exchange of detainees in eastern Ukraine...

TIRANA/VIENNA, 23 March 2020- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger expressed their deep concern that in recent days, the armed formations have prevented the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) from crossing the contact line into non-government-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. They called for urgent steps to ensure the safety of SMM staff and that the SMM is able to continue to operate, while taking into account the need to control the spread of COVID-19...

VIENNA, 27 February 2020 – Enhancing co-operation between the OSCE’s Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) and the Permanent Council (PC) in preventing and countering terrorism was the focus of a joint meeting of the FSC and PC held on 26 February in Vienna under Turkey’s FSC Chairmanship and Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship. The discussions focused on how the FSC, as the OSCE’s leading decision-making body in the politico-military sphere, can contribute, in line with its mandate and existing instruments, to the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to combating terrorism...

TIRANA / VIENNA, 18 February 2020- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger expressed their deep concern about reports of heavy fighting near the Zolote disengagement area in eastern Ukraine today. They regretted in particular the reports of casualties. While noting that the fighting there was reported to have stopped, they called for restraint and full respect for the ceasefire, especially after the many recommitments and reaffirmations most recently in the conclusions of the Normandy-format Summit in Paris on 9 December.

MUNICH, Germany, 15 February 2020 – Co-operation between the OSCE and Armenia was a focus of a meeting yesterday between OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on the margins of the Munich Security Conference...