Serbia's OSCE presidency, "great challenge"

Serbia's OSCE presidency, "great challenge"

A two-day ministerial conference ended in Basel on Friday. The gathering was called to mark the end of the Swiss presidency of the OSCE. Serbia will take over on January 1.

Dacic explained that it was "traditional" for the current chairman to conclude the last plenary session's debate and give the floor to the country taking over, when its representative speaks about the priorities and closes the conference.

"Our first work day in the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, that I will chair, will be January 15," Dacic said.

He added that Serbia's goal in the next year will be to continue what Switzerland started, "to continue the implementation of the truce in Ukraine, achieved in September in Minsk."

"We believe this is the only way to deescalate the conflict, and that means a ceasefire, the functioning of the missions there, the OSCE is the only international organization present in Ukraine, and the beginning of a kind of dialogue. In the end, all conflicts end in some sort of dialogue,"said he.

Speaking about the preparations for the OSCE role, Dacic announced that he would travel to France, Russia, and Ukraine by the end of the year.

"I hope that we will succeed, in a very responsible way, in the role of an honest broker and negotiator in order to achieve the goals that are written in the principles of the OSCE," he said.

Dacic added that Serbia has good relations with "various factors" and that, along with "good coordination of the work of the troika," all this will be used as a good basis to act as a credible OSCE chair.

Dacic said that next year is extremely important because of a number of anniversaries, among others, the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act.

"We plan to hold an informal ministerial meeting in Helsinki and during the year, including the ministerial meeting in Belgrade in December, consider the manner of the organization's functioning and perspectives," Dacic said.

He added that current chairperson of Didier Burkhalter decided to set up a panel of eminent personalities - to be led by German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger.

The panel will have 13 members, including one from Serbia.

"We are ready to continue working with Ischinger. Over the next year, the panel should give its view of where the problems are and how the organization could work better. For Serbia, this is a big challenge. Our first task will certainly be to determine the representative of the OSCE chairmanship in the Contact Group between Russia and Ukraine," Dacic said.

He also pointed out that this was "extremely important" as the monitoring of the implementation of the Minsk agreement is done based on the work of that group, "which is important for the functioning of the ceasefire and for the political dialogue."

"Threats of modern time"

Also in Basel during the OSCE conference, Ivica Dacic addressed a meeting of the Contact Group for Cooperation with Mediterranean Partners, whose main topic was “Common challenges in the fight against terrorism inside and outside OSCE space”, to say that Serbia backs fight against terrorism in all its forms.

"Our overall goal was to foster open and interactive dialogue primarily between the partners and the participating states, with an intention to follow a demand-driven approach by way of responding to the priorities and challenges of the Mediterranean Partners. We have witnessed vibrant discussions with variety of ideas on how to enhance our co-operation in diverse areas," he said, and added:

"The deliberations have demonstrated indivisible interdependence of security in the OSCE region and its neighborhood in the Mediterranean. The threats of modern times – international terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, illegal migrations – to name just a few – are transnational by their nature and recognize no borders. Therefore, the responses to these threats require coordinated international efforts and close cooperation of the competent authorities of the OSCE participating and Partner States alike."

Dacic noted that under the chairmanship of Serbia, the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act will be marked, "by which the relevance of the Mediterranean aspect for security and stability in Europe was recognized already in 1975."

"This has created a special relationship between our Mediterranean partners and the OSCE, which has been regularly emphasized in OSCE relevant documents and dialogue, as well as at conferences, seminars and meetings. It can be further strengthened through sharing OSCE norms, commitments and expertise in all three dimensions of security," he said.

Dacic further stated that by the end of this year the 20th anniversary of the Contact Group for cooperation with the Mediterranean Partners will be marked:

"Today, we are at a juncture where the OSCE participating states and partner countries share information about relevant developments, identify areas of common concern and generate ideas on how to address security challenges. This is yet another proof of the commitment of the participating States towards the cooperation with the Mediterranean Partners."

"It is very important that we have terrorism as the topic for discussion today. Recently, at the Mediterranean Conference in Neum, we have condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterated our resolution to combat it, as it constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security. The readiness was expressed to act together in finding appropriate responses to challenges posed by international terrorism, including through the OSCE framework.," Dacic said, and added:

"It was also underscored that terrorist acts and violent extremist ideology are incompatible with the fundamental values and principles shared by the OSCE Participating and Partners States alike. The need to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism was recognized, in order to suppress flow of foreign terrorist fighters, to bring those fighters to justice and to ensure that no funds, financial assets or economic resources are made available to terrorist groups."

According to him, "Serbia supports the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the fight against organizations such as ISIL. "

"We have cosponsored UNSC Resolution 2178 and have already amended our national legal framework in order to prosecute the nationals which participate or organize participation in armed conflicts abroad," Dacic noted.

"Before concluding, I would like to seize this opportunity to reassure once again our friends and colleagues from Mediterranean Partners that their views and positions will be taken into consideration to the greatest extent possible during Serbian OSCE Chairmanship next year, as they were and are this year, under the Swiss Chairmanship. This should give yet another impetus to finding common grounds and interests for the enhancement of cooperation," the Serbian minister said.

Bilateral meetings

While in Basel, Ivica Dacic had a number bilateral meetings with his counterparts, and the main topic of the discussions was Serbia's OSCE chairmanship in 2015, for which the country was given backing.

A range of bilateral issues was also discussed at the meetings, held during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Dacic and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed matters of interest regarding the two countries' bilateral relations in view of preparations for Dacic's upcoming visit to Moscow.

The two ministers also discussed current issues of relevance to Serbia's OSCE chairmanship.

During his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Dacic, who is also Serbia's first deputy prime minister, received assurances that the Turkish side will do its utmost to bring to justice the murderers of a Serbian sport supporter killed in Istanbul on November 21.

The meeting reaffirmed the significance of mutual cooperation, and Cavusoglu invited Dacic to visit Turkey.

Also on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel, he on Thursday met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who says that the United States will strongly support Serbia during its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2015.

Dacic also met with David Lidington, minister for European affairs of Great Britain, and Didier Reynders, chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers and foreign minister of Belgium, who voiced support for Serbia's OSCE chairmanship-in-office next year, according to a release from the Serbian Foreign Ministry.

The meetings touched on bilateral issues between these countries.

Dacic and Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman agreed for the Serbian foreign minister to pay a visit to Moldova and discussed possibilities of a continuation of the 5+2 talks to resolve the Transdniestrian conflict.

The talks were chaired by Ambassador Radojko Bogojevic in his capacity as special representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

With the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, U.S. Ambassador James Warlick, Russian Ambassador Igor Popov, French Ambassador Pierre Andrieu and Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of the Chairperson-in-Office for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Dacic discussed ways of cooperation during Serbia's OSCE chairmanship, the MFA statement said.