DUSHANBE, 12.04.2019. (NIAT Khovar) – The last plenary meeting of the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) of the of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) under the Swiss Chairmanship was held on Wednesday in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.

During the meeting, Tajikistan took over the chairmanship. In the closing ceremony, the Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the OSCE, Ambassador Claude Wild handed over the attributes of the FCS chairperson to the Permanent Representative of Tajikistan to the OSCE, Ambassador Idibek Kalandar, reports the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Noting the high level of the organization of the forum and the constructive and transparent manner of the Swiss chairmanship, Kalandar reconfirmed the intention of Tajikistan to maintain the same approach.

Presenting a preliminary program of the FSC under the Tajik chairmanship for the next four months, Kalandar expressed his intention to attract the attention of the forum to the current issues of regional security in Central Asia, as well as the urgency of enhancing cooperation between the OSCE and the regional organization in Central Asia.

“The Tajik chairmanship would maintain the continuity of consideration of the core FSC issues, such as confidence and security-building measures, management of small arms and light weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition, as well as the implementation of the provisions of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1540 and 1325,” noted Kalandar.

The program of the Tajik chairmanship includes a Joint FSC-Permanent Council Meeting on Structured Dialogue focusing on the necessity of joint measures in countering terrorism and violent extremism in the OSCE area.
This is Tajikistan’s first chairmanship of the FSC, which is one of the two main regular decision-making bodies of the OSCE.  The forum provides a unique platform for the 57 OSCE participating states to discuss issues relating to security challenges.

Tajikistan’s chairmanship will end later this year in August. The first plenary meeting under the Tajik chairmanship will take place in early May in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.