Joint statement in response to the report by the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo
As delivered by Chargé d’Affaires Courtney Austrian
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
March 4, 2021
Madam Chairperson,
I am making this statement in a national capacity and also on behalf of Albania, Germany, the United States of America, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. We will submit a final list of aligned States, which we request to be attached to the Journal of the Day.
Madam Chairperson,
We appreciate the outstanding work carried out by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo to support the authorities of the country in strengthening their institutions. We are pleased to welcome Acting Head of Mission Killian Wahl to the Permanent Council and look forward to meeting Ambassador Davenport in the near future.
We welcome the fact that the Mission is continuously adapting its activities to Kosovo’s needs. We recall that the Mission is the second largest of the OSCE Field Operations and that it plays an essential role in Kosovo.
We recognize that, as a matter of good governance within our organization, one of the best ways to understand how effectively OSCE Field Operations are implementing their work is to hear directly from the partners and beneficiaries on the ground. Therefore, we consider it essential to have contact among participating States and stakeholders, partners and interlocutors co-operating with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. We encourage the Swedish Chairpersonship to make full use of the opportunity at the next report by the Head of the Mission in Kosovo, and every other Head of Mission who presents to the Permanent Council, to organize such contact on the occasion of the Informal meeting.
We request that this practice should be continued also in future.
Thank you.
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