"OSCE and Serbia" receive support at UN - FM

"OSCE and Serbia" receive support at UN - FM

"The (UN) SC's support is important, and that we received today, for the functioning of the OSCE and in general our presence on the ground."

He noted that all members of the UN Security Council, 15 of them, "supported and congratulated on the Serbian positions and the chairmanship of the OSCE," and that this happened "at a time reminiscent of the problems and divisions that existed when the organization was founded 40 years ago."

"I presented our views on major flashpoints, I presented the latest developments of the situation concerning the Ukrainian crisis, the strides we've made these days regarding the full implementation of the agreement from Minsk, but also for the start of political dialogue for constitutional reform of Ukraine," said Dacic. He added that Serbia recently begun consultations on a new mandate of the monitoring mission in Ukraine, since the current mandate expires at the end of March.

According to him, Russia and Ukraine have agreed that the mandate of the new mission should be extended for 12 more months.

"That's a positive change. It will also be considered whether there is a sufficient number of observers, the budget, what technical equipment should be acquired," said Dacic.

He added that he would "continue briefings and meetings in the UN, because the OSCE is an important organization for peace and stability and because it is of great importance that the two organizations act jointly."

"Stability and peace"

During his briefing to the UN Security Council on UN/OSCE cooperation earlier on Tuesday, Ivica Dacic said that Serbia as current holder of the OSCE chairmanship was fully committed to working towards establishing peace and stability in Ukraine.

Serbia is doing everything it can to see the efforts made by the OSCE continue in an impartial and transparent manner, Dacic said.

According to him, "Serbia is aware of the fact that the OSCE and the European security are at a critical crossroads and is fully devoted to working together with key actors to reestablish peace and stability in Ukraine."

"Not so long ago, the Western Balkans was torn apart by conflicts, and now cooperation and peaceful approach to resolving issues prevail," Dacic said, and added:

"We decided to make efforts to promote cooperation in the Western Balkans a priority of our OSCE chairmanship, which is a clear proof that all obstacles, no matter how difficult they may be, can be overcome by political common sense and good will."

Serbia’s has taken over the OSCE chairmanship in times of the worst European security crisis since the end of the Cold War, Dacic said, observing that the crisis in and around Ukraine still dominated security debates in Europe and that it was now affecting the global situation much more than in the year before.

Since taking over the chairmanship of the Organization at the beginning of this year, my agenda has been dominated by the current political crisis and escalation of violence in Ukraine. An increasing number of people there are being affected by recurring violence, while waves of civilians are leaving their homes in desperate need of security, Dacic said.

According to him, "this resulted in more than one million displaced, five thousand killed and over 12,000 wounded."

It is therefore high time peace settled in. The package of measures presented in Minsk on February 12 still represents the best available road map to lead to defusing the situation in the east of the country. We hope that the political will shown by the parties signing the package will prevail and that it will help make the weapons fall silent and ease human suffering, said Dacic.

Ukraine is at a critical crossroads and it is necessary to ensure strict compliance with ceasefire conditions in order to enable the implementation of other elements of the package, especially the withdrawal of heavy weaponry and equipment, the OSCE chairperson said.

Although the focus right now, and with a good reason so, is on the implementation of the military aspects of Minsk-2," Dacic noted that the “non-military” elements of the agreement, such as the renewal of social and economic ties, local elections and constitutional reform, should not be lost out of sight.

He expressed the hope that the weeks to come would be marked by further improving the measures recently agreed in Minsk with the aim of bringing back peace and stability in eastern Ukraine, stressing that the Serbian OSCE chairmanship would do all to help achieve that objective.

"Resolving the frozen conflicts is high on the agenda of the Serbian chairmanship. All sides should step up efforts within the agreed frameworks to overcome the status quo and to show more political will to make progress towards a peaceful way out of the situation. We believe that small but concrete steps will help develop trust between the parties and pave the way for efficient resolution of the issues between them," said Dacic.

The Serbian OSCE chairmanship will also devote a lot of effort to finding ways to fight arrivals of foreign terrorist fighters to Ukraine, and forms of violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism, especially the radicalization of youth, Dacic said.

The issue will be dealt with at the OSCE-wide Counter Terrorism Conference, taking place in Vienna on June 30 – July 1.

Dacic concluded that the OSCE was devoted to creating new synergies with the UN in key regions of joint interest to the two organizations, including eastern Europe, southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and southern Mediterranean.