OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade: live
The 22nd OSCE Ministerial Council, gathering some 40 Foreign Affairs Ministers and a number of high-level diplomats from across the OSCE region, will take place on 3 and 4 December 2015, at the Kombank Arena, in Belgrade, Serbia at the invitation of the 2015 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić. The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting, held annually, provides foreign ministers and more than 70 delegations of OSCE participating States, partner countries and several international organizations an opportunity to review and assess the Organization's activities during the past year and offer national viewpoints on security matters. The foreign ministers will discuss the crisis in and around Ukraine, migration, terrorism and other common challenges within and beyond the OSCE area, as well as ways to rebuild consensus on European security as a common project. The Council will set the course for the future work of the organization with Germany taking up the Chairmanship from 1 January 2016. The OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference 2015, with a focus on developments in different aspects of human rights across the OSCE region/human dimension developments, will conclude on 2 December at the Hotel Falkensteiner, in Belgrade, with outcomes being presented to representatives of both the current and incoming Chairmanships. The Head of Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship Task Force, Ambassador Dejan Šahović, will hold a press conference with his counterpart from the incoming Chairmanship, Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Germany’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, at 17:15 at the Arena Media Centre on 2 December, where the civil society recommendations will be presented by Civic Solidarity Platform members Yuri Dzhibladze, Ralph du Long and Katie Morris. Some 500 media representatives have been accredited to report from the Council. The Media Centre will be open as follows: 2 December: 10:00 – 18:00 3 December: 06:00 – 22:00 4 December: 07:00 – 22:00 On Thursday, 3 December, media representatives need to be inside the Press Centre before 07:15 if they wish to be present for the arrival of the Heads of Delegations and the Opening Sessions. No access will be allowed between 07:15 – 10:00. For briefings and individual interviews, as well as any information on distribution of press release, declarations, speeches and other documents, representatives of the media can email the [email protected] or [email protected] or call +381 11 222 5537, +381 66 8890 400 or +43 676 375 61 63. Plenary sessions can be viewed live at www.osce.org/live. Broadcast-quality video and photography of arrivals, plenary sessions and news conferences will be available to download in the media centre. The programme of the Ministerial Council, including media briefings, is as follows: 3 December, Thursday: 07:00 Arrival of delegations (cameras only) 07:45 Ceremonial meet & greet procedure with the Chairperson-in-Office 09:15 Family photo (cameras only) 09:30 Opening session (cameras only) - Formal opening and adoption of the agenda - Address by the host country representative (Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić) - Address by the Chairperson-in-Office Ivica Dačić - Address by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ilkka Kanerva - Report by the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier 12.00 Press conference by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger on the final report by the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project. 17.30 Press conference by Chairperson-in-Office Ivica Dačić, his Special Representative in Ukraine and the Trilateral Contact Group Ambassador Martin Sajdik and Chief Monitor of the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan 4 December, Friday: 09:00 Plenary session - Statements by Heads of Delegations - Adoption of Ministerial Council decisions and documents (closed) 14:00 Closing session (cameras only) - Formal closure (statements by the current and incoming Chairperson-in-Office) 16:30 Concluding press conference by current and incoming Chairperson-in-Office, Ministers Ivica Dačić and Frank Walter Steinmeier, respectively, and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.
