OSCE foreign ministers gather for 30th meeting in Skopje

The 30th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has started in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is taking part, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

Lavrov was one of the last to arrive at the OSCE Ministerial Council’s meeting. His appearance caused great excitement among the media workers present. Some journalists shouted their questions, but Lavrov proceeded straight into the conference hall, where he took a seat between the representatives of Romania and San Marino.

The OSCE Ministerial Council has kicked off with a plenary session at which the chief delegates are to make statements. The event is taking place in the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center, re-equipped as an exhibition pavilion. Within an hour before the start of the first plenary session - a total of three are scheduled for Thursday and Friday - the heads of delegations were coming to the main entrance. Each was welcomed by the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Bujar Osmani.

One of the important issues on the agenda of the OSCE Ministerial Council is the organization’s presidency next year. Estonia had earlier nominated itself, but Russia repeatedly said it would not support the nomination. The candidacy of the presiding country requires consensus. Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela said that his country was ready to take over the OSCE chairmanship in 2024, if Estonia's candidacy was not approved.