Foreign Minister Aurescu attending two-day OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Stockholm

Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu is attending Thursday and Friday in Stockholm the 28th meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which will look at escalating tensions caused by the migrant crisis at the borders of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and the conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh, the Foreign Ministry said in a release, agerpres reports.

"The main topics on the agenda of the meeting are: overcoming crisis situations in the OSCE area while encouraging support for the comprehensive concept of security and the observance of joint commitments, as well as obtaining the agreement of the participating states on the documents to be adopted on the three dimensions of the organization - political and military, economic and environmental, human," the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Aurescu will deliver the national address and will also take part in another two working sessions, one to discuss ways to streamline the OSCE's capacity to resolve conflicts, the other on developments in Afghanistan and the implications thereof for the OSCE region.

On the last day of the meeting the Foreign Minister will also present the declaration of NATO member states at the OSCE, in his capacity as Chair of the NATO states' OSCE coordination format.

According to the cited source, in his addresses Minister Aurescu will refer to the need to strengthen the OSCE's conflict prevention and resolution capacity and will emphasize Romania's consistent support for the organization's efforts to resolve protracted conflicts in the Black Sea region while advocating increased efficiency in implementing mechanisms for the settlement of protracted conflicts, including through cooperation with partners, the EU included. The Romanian top diplomat will also reiterate Romania's firm support for the role of the OSCE in the context of the crisis situations in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as of those in the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The OSCE Ministerial Council takes place annually in December and marks the end of the Chairmanship-in-Office held every year by a participating state.

The current meeting will mark Poland's taking over the Chairmanship from Sweden.