Antti Karttunen appointed as OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan

Antti Karttunen from Finland has been appointed as OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan as of 23 January 2024. Karttunen was appointed by Malta, the current Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan is an OSCE field operation mandated to support Uzbekistan in its efforts to implement its OSCE commitments in the three dimensions of the organisation’s comprehensive concept of security: the politico-military, the economic and environmental, and the human dimension. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan works in close cooperation with the host state’s government and civil society. The Project Co-ordinator’s office is based in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, and has a staff of 40 international and local personnel. 

Antti Karttunen has over 15 years of experience of working in demanding international roles. He has held supervisory and project management positions in more than ten countries. He served as Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova from June 2019 to June 2023. Before that, Karttunen worked in an EU funded development project of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia and in the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), among other places. In addition, he has two years of experience of military crisis management in Kosovo.

Finland is a strong supporter of OSCE field operations. The field operations’ role is crucial in advancing the OSCE principles and commitments at the local level. Finland has supported the OSCE’s work in Central Asia for years, both by financing projects and by seconding Finnish experts to the field operations in the region.