The Ministerial Council, held annually in the country of the Chairmanship, is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting provides Foreign Ministers and delegations of the 57 OSCE participating States, 11 Partners for Co-operation and several international organizations, with an opportunity to foster meaningful dialogue on security challenges in the OSCE area and review and assess the Organization's activities over the past year.

The Ministerial Council is the culmination of the German OSCE Chairmanship’s efforts to strengthen the OSCE in the face of growing security threats. The Chairmanship’s work in 2016 was guided by three key objectives: “Renewing dialogue, rebuilding trust, restoring security”.

In Hamburg, the Foreign Ministers focused on efforts to settle existing conflicts in the OSCE area, in particular the crisis in and around Ukraine, strengthening the OSCE’s capacities in civilian crisis management, reviving conventional arms control as well as empowering the OSCE to effectively address new global challenges. The Council has also set the course for the future work of the OSCE with Austria taking over the Chairmanship from 1 January 2017.

 

You can download the statement of the Czech Republic at the Ministerial Council here: MC2016 CZ Statement (PDF, 61 KB)

For further information please visit http://www.osce.org/oscemc16