Lavrov Was the "Star" of the OSCE Ministerial Meeting

• 07.14.2017, 18:24
•  Europe,  World,  Armenia,  NKR

OSCE

OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting in Mauerbach, Austria, was under the title "Building trust through dialogue and cooperation." It was in Austria, where the meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov was to take place; the fact that made the events happening in Austria even important for us. However, later it turned out that the meeting would take place in the capital of Belgium, Brussels, instead of Austria.

In Austria the RA Foreign Minister also met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The peaceful resolution of Karabakh conflict was again on the agenda of the meeting. During this meeting, the necessity of the implementation of the Vienna and Saint-Petersburg agreements were mutually underlined. The ministers referred to the issues of the mutual cooperation paying special attention to the realization of the agreements reached between the leaders of Armenia and Russia.

In the framework of the OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting, the RF Foreign Minister also met with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. The latter, after the negotiations with Lavrov, declared that the sides had reached an agreement to make the discussion on the international issues more often. She also noted that they had discussed with Lavrov the ways the EU can support reaching the ceasefire in Syria.

Referring to the working visit of Russian Foreign Minister to Austria, Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on her Facebook page noted that the OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting was "really informal," as after the plenary session the delegates continued separate discussions in a non-formal atmosphere. According to Zakharova, Lavrov had a separate discussion with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz. They continued their conversation in a non-formal meeting smoking cigars. Zakharova did not specify what the two foreign ministers discussed, however, it is interesting to note that the Austrian media called Lavrov "the star" of the OSCE non-formal meetings. According to them, if it was not Lavrov, the result of the non-formal meeting could be the end of the Austrian OSCE chairmanship.

Austrian Foreign Minister, in his turn, noted that "in Europe there can be no peace without Russia." According to some experts, the young politician aims at doing a memorable step, to be of use to the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship. The analysts note that he will insist on activating the steps in the struggle against terrorism.

The last meeting, that took place by the initiative of the Austrian Foreign Minister, did not suppose signing of any document. The ministers discussed the hottest topics, including struggle against terrorism, as well as reaching agreements on the core issues within the organization. In this context, the success was possible. As it is known, since July 1, the OSCE had had no secretary,  as the organization members were not able to reach an agreement Zannier’s successor, whose term of the office expired on June 1. Now the member states of the organizations reached an agreement on the candidacy of the new OSCE Secretary General - they supported Swiss diplomat Thomas Graham’s appointment as a new Secretary General. The OSCE former Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, was appointed as a commissioner for High Commissioner on National Minorities, French Harlem Désir as an OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, while Ingibjörg Sólrún as director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

To add, OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting is not a tradition.  In 2016, Germany initiated a meeting in this format. Before that such a meeting was organized in 2010, when Kazakhstan chaired the organization. The ministers usually meet once a year at the OSCE Ministerial Council session, which takes place in December. This year the meeting will take place in Vienna on December 7-8. According to numerous experts, it is not excluded that such formal meetings, which do not suppose signing of any document, can be more productive for discussing and resolving a number of issues.