Macedonia and the capital Skopje are hosting the 30th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – OSCE, which is attended by about 1000 delegates from 57 member countries of the Organization and partner countries.

The largest international political event organized in the country since independence is attended by the heads of diplomacy of the largest number of OSCE participating countries – USA, Canada, Great Britain, ministers from EU and NATO member states, from the Mediterranean, Middle East and Central Asia.The ministerial meeting, which is being held at the “Boris Trajkovski” Sports Center, will be officially opened by the President of the Government of Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, the Chairman of the OSCE, Minister Bujar Osmani and the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Pia Kauma. At the open part of the plenary session, the Secretary General of the OSCE, Helga Maria Schmid, will submit a report. On the first day, two accompanying events are planned: Signing of the joint statement on fighting corruption in Southeast Europe through the return of property and the use of digitalization, which will be followed by addressing the impact of climate change on human security in the OSCE area. Tomorrow, three side events will be held on the theme “Youth and civil society”, “It’s about the people – the impact of OSCE field operations in 2023” and “Preserving pluralism – safety of women journalists”.Accredited journalists will be able to follow the final plenary session of the OSCE Ministerial Council, which will be followed by a final press conference with the chairman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, with a representative of Malta, which is the next chairman of the Organization and the Secretary General of OSCE Schmid. The informal dinner was also attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Vice President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, who left shortly after the dinner. They parted ways with the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, who arrived in Skopje late last night.

The ministerial meeting started yesterday with the informal dinner of the majority of ministers, where the topic of conversation was the military aggression against Ukraine and the need for a functional Organization in times of conflicts and increased tensions. Blinken’s meeting with Lavrov was not announced, and Borrell also stated before his arrival that he would not talk to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov