Press Releases

Wednesday, December 1, Astana - In the framework of the Summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė had a bilateral meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

The President underlined in the meeting that further reform of the OSCE will be the primary task for Lithuania as it takes over chairmanship of this organization from Kazakhstan next year.

"The United Nations and the OSCE must cooperate closely in addressing such issues raising concerns to both organizations as frozen conflicts, violations of human rights and democratic principles, also energy and cyber security and fight against trafficking in drugs. During Lithuanian Chairmanship I will urge the secretariats of both organizations to prepare the topics for discussions and coordinate their decisions as effectively as possible," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.

The UN Secretary-General drew attention to the need to ensure democracy and free elections in particular, underlining that the OSCE and the Lithuanian Chairmanship will have to make efforts to ensure impartial observation of the upcoming presidential election in Belarus.

The UN Secretary-General and the President of Lithuania also discussed ways to strengthen coordination of joint actions by the OSCE and the UN in combating drug trafficking.