Moscow considers Austria’s program of chairmanship in OSCE as pragmatic and is ready to take steps for its implementation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization currently headed by Austria, TASS news agency reported.
Lavrov met with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz, who is the OSCE chairperson-in-office on Wednesday.
“We studied the program of the chairmanship and we consider it to be pragmatic; we are ready to assist its successful implementation,” Lavrov said.
He added that Russia is interested in “continuing exchanging views on the issues of European cooperation and Russia-EU cooperation”.
Lavrov continued by saying, “We are closely cooperating in other international organizations-the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the OSCE.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz also said, “Austria has traditionally acted as a bridge connecting the West and the East. We would like to help European countries abandon bloc thinking that has reemerged in Europe recently.”
He added, “We need more trust, we need to communicate with each other more to solve pressing issues.”
According to Kurz, “it is important that we discuss the ways to settle conflicts, and pay more attention to the war against terror”.
“The OSCE can do much to create more safe conditions for the citizens of our countries,” he said.
“Today, we plan to discuss matters concerning bilateral cooperation. We need to ensure the support of all the participants of the Russian political life in order to solve various issues.”