OSCE PA Vice-President Ilkka Kanerva (left) meets with Claus Neukirch, the Deputy Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, with the PA’s Ambassador Andreas Nothelle and Senior Policy Analyst Francesco Pagani (in foreground) alongside.VIENNA, 11 June 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) held a day of meetings at OSCE offices in Vienna on 10 June. The discussions focused primarily on the current crisis in Ukraine, the continued detention of OSCE monitors in the east of the country and the OSCE PA's successful deployment of over 100 monitors in the recent election observation mission to Ukraine.
Kanerva, who is Head of the Finnish Delegation to the OSCE PA, as well as one of the OSCE PA's Helsinki +40 Project Leaders and a former OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, was thoroughly briefed by representatives of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, the OSCE Secretary General, the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre and the OSCE PA's Liaison Office.
He met with Ambassador Marcel Pesko, the director of the Office of the Secretary General, to discuss OSCE priorities in the weeks ahead. Andrea Rauber Saxer, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Swiss Mission to the OSCE, exchanged views with Kanerva on the Chairmanship's current and planned initiatives, particularly with respect to Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine was also the focus of Kanerva's meeting with Claus Neukirch, the Deputy Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, who provided an update on efforts to secure the release of OSCE monitors currently being held by separatists in the eastern part of the country.
Kanerva also met with Vuk Zugic, Serbia's Ambassador to the OSCE, during his Vienna visit. Serbia will assume the Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2015.
At the PA's Vienna Liaison Office, he met with Ambassador Andreas Nothelle, Director of Presidential Administration Roberto Montella, Deputy Director of Administration Marc Carillet and OSCE PA Senior Policy Analyst Francesco Pagani for a discussion on the Annual Session and co-operation between the PA and the governmental side of the OSCE.
