Informal high-level OSCE meeting in Helsinki in July

Press release 149/2015
5 June 2015

The participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, will convene for an informal high-level meeting in Helsinki on 10 July. In addition to the OSCE Troika, that is the Foreign Ministers of Switzerland, Serbia and Germany, deputy ministers from 57 participating States have been invited to attend the meeting.

Serbia, which is the current holder of the OSCE Chairmanship, has convened the meeting and will chair the event. Upon the initiative of the Serbian Chairperson-in-Office (CiO), Finland has kindly accepted to host the meeting. The meeting will be held at Finlandia Hall, which was the venue of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, CSCE, in 1975.

A section at the beginning of the meeting has been reserved to mark the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. The following discussions will address issues related to European security; a more detailed agenda will be available in the next few weeks. The meeting will also pave the way for the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade in December.

The informal meeting will be organised separately from the Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which will be held in Helsinki from 5 to 9 July.

Inquiries: Ambassador Katja Pehrman, Permanent Representative of Finland to the OSCE, tel. +43 676 8483 50350 (on matters concerning the OSCE), and Hannu Kyröläinen, Ambassador, tel. 0358 295 351 027 (on  conference arrangements).