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Russian FM: “If member states do not need OSCE, then it will have no future”

03 December 2020 17:34 (UTC +04:00)

Russia has proposed the establishment of an informal working group to increase the effectiveness of the OSCE, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the meeting of OSCE Ministerial Council, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports.

"We propose to establish an informal working group for the future Swedish presidency to increase the effectiveness of the OSCE,” Russian FM said.

Lavrov noted that reform in the OSCE should be in the direction of increasing transparency and improving the work of the secretariat, institutions and election observation methodology, optimizing the preparation of action programs and the Council of Foreign Ministers, and improving the budget process.

According to him, this is not a call to start from scratch: “It is important to breathe new life into the complex of interrelated OSCE commitments formed over the past decades. If the member states do not need OSCE, then it will not have a future. New OSCE officials must be fully aware of this situation and take into account the exciting trend in their practical works. They should act impartially and responsibly for strengthening the basic rules and the principle of consensus, not with the proposals of one or another state.”