Skopje, 4 January 2023 (MIA) – North Macedonia begins its OSCE Chairpersonship under the motto “It’s About People”, because ultimately it is the people who are the biggest users and beneficiaries of all that we do in politics, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, told a media briefing on Wednesday.

“Sometimes in politics, when we focus on grand politics, on significant initiatives with significant interests, we tend to forget that regardless of our position, we work for the people, to reduce the suffering of people mainly in conflict areas, to help rehabilitate and integrate the people. Considering our experience, through our OSCE mission, we believe that if anyone is familiar with the importance of OSCE on the ground and its instruments – it’s us. Which is why we decided that the message we aim to send through our Chairpersonship is ‘yes, you may think you are making significant political decisions, but ultimately it is the people that are the greatest beneficiaries of everything we do’,” said Osmani.

Osmani underlined that it is significant that a small country such as North Macedonia, as an OSCE Chairperson, has the mission to prevent conflict. He stressed that today North Macedonia is maturing in a country that has the ability to lead and is leading an entire organization.

“We have gone from being beneficiaries of OSCE’s services to being chairpersons of the organization. What North Macedonia has achieved internally, through a multi-ethnic functional democracy, the multi-ethnic relations, the culture of dialogue, the culture of compromise, the good neighborly relations, all of this has given us a reputation recognized by the international community that we are mature and can transfer our experience to the OSCE region,” said Osmani.

He reiterated that it is a great honor for North Macedonia that 56 OSCE member states unanimously supported its bid for chairpersonship, considering, he added, that there is still no agreement on the future Chairperson for the next year due to a lack of consensus.

“Our chairpersonship is happening during one of the most difficult years for OSCE. After 50 years, a member state is taking down the basic principles and pillars not only of the organization but of the entire security architecture of Europe, Russia is undermining these pillars and principles through its aggression in Ukraine, thereby causing harm to the people of those regions,” said Osmani.

The Foreign Minister stated that it was precisely in Skopje in 1992 that OSCE’s first field mission was open, with the aim of preventing spillover from the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“This is when the opening of field missions began, granting the organization its role in conflict prevention, ultimately leading it to take part in conflict management and have a comprehensive security aspect,” said Osmani. ad/nn/