Cyprus joins the Trοika of the OSCE’s Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC)
At the meeting of the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), which was held yesterday in Vienna, Bulgaria handed over the Chairmanship of the Forum to Canada. At the same time, Cyprus joined as the new member of the Troika, which consists of the country currently holding the Chairmanship, together with the previous (Bulgaria) and the next (Cyprus) Chairs.
During its four-month term, the Canadian, as Chairman-in-Office, will be assisted by Bulgaria and Cyprus, while at the end of the current year, Cyprus will assume the Chairmanship, which it will hold for the first four months of 2024.
Speaking at the meeting, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the OSCE, Ambassador Maria Michael, thanked the outgoing FSC Troika member Bosnia-Herzegovina and congratulated Bulgaria for a successful Chairmanship. At the same time, she welcomed the Canadian Chairman, adding that Cyprus, as the new member of the Troika, will cooperate closely with the Secretariat of the OSCE and all participating states, to support its work.
The Republic of Cyprus is a founding member of the OSCE, which is based in Vienna and is the world’s biggest regional security organisation with 57 participating states. The FSC is one of the two (together with the Permanent Council) autonomous decision-making bodies of the OSCE. It meets on a weekly basis and discusses a wide range of politico-military issues, ranging from traditional security between and within states, to transnational threats such as the trafficking of weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. Important achievements of the FSC include the development of the “OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security”, which aims at ensuring the democratic control of armed forces, and the “Vienna Document”, which contains a number of confidence-building measures. At the same time, it regulates and oversees the exchange of information between the participating states with the aim of upholding transparency and building trust between them.------------------------- Thursday, 27 July 2023