Foreign Minister Blanar Heads to Vienna for OSCE Ministerial Council

Brussels/Vienna/Bratislava, 3 December (TASR) – Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar departed on Wednesday afternoon from the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels to Vienna, where on Thursday (4 December) he'll attend a session of the Ministerial Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the ministry's press department reported on Wednesday. The meeting will be chaired by Finnish Foreign Minister and serving OSCE Chair Elina Valtonen. The key issues will include security challenges in the OSCE area with an emphasis on the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as discussions on the organisation's future functioning in a changing security environment. A plenary session on Thursday will be preceded by an informal dinner of the heads of delegations on Wednesday, focused on the situation in Ukraine. Also on Thursday, Blanar will meet partners within the informal Friends of the Western Balkans grouping, where he'll reaffirm Slovakia's consistent support for the region's EU-integration efforts. The discussion will centre on the current regional situation, progress in EU integration and other issues including energy. Blanar is also slated to hold bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, Maka Bochorishvili and Asein Isaev, respectively. mf/df