Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano addressed the UN Security Council to illustrate the priorities of Italy’s 2018 Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Minister Alfano assured the 15 members of the Security Council on the Italian Chairmanship’s full political commitment to seek a solution to the Ukrainian crisis and to the protracted conflicts in the OSCE area (Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria). Italy also assured that OSCE would pay greater attention to the challenges and opportunities coming from the Mediterranean, promoting a better delineated role of OSCE on migration, as was highlighted in the Mediterranean Conference chaired by the minister in Palermo last 24-25 October.
In a morning meeting in New York with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Minister Alfano illustrated how Italy is promoting a proactive approach on OSCE’s three security “dimensions” (politico-military, economic-environmental and human rights) and on the new transnational challenges (terrorism, cyber security, fighting illegal trafficking – from drug trafficking to the trafficking of cultural property). They also discussed the ministerial meeting to support the Lebanese security forces scheduled to be held in Rome next 15 March, which will also be attended by the Secretary-General.
