December 06 / 2011
OSCE Ministerial Meeting kicking off in Vilnius
A two-day session of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is starting in Lithuania on Tuesday. The event will be attended by more than 40 ministers including United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and diplomacy chiefs of Russia and Germany.
Discussions of the Ministerial Council would focus on protracted conflicts, transnational threats, media freedom and enhanced engagement with the OSCE’s Partner countries, including in the Southern Mediterranean and Afghanistan.
Lithuania's neighboring Belarus should also be in focus of the session. After official OSCE events, Clinton is scheduled to meet with Belarusian opposition activists to demonstrate support to the forces opposing the regime of Belarus' hardline President Alexander Lukashenko.
The so-called Arab Spring – democratic uprisings and protests in countries across North Africa – should also be high on the agenda.
The meeting is held in Vilnius in the framework of Lithuania's 2011 OSCE presidency, which will be taken over by Ireland in 2012.
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