Serbia to chair OSCE in 2015

Serbia will chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2015, it was decided at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna on Friday.

The decision-making meeting in Vienna was attended by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Tanjug news agency.

As OSCE spokesperson Frane Maroevic told Tanjug, the decision on Serbia's presidency was confirmed since none of the member countries objected Serbia's bid until Friday noon, when the deadline for appeals expired.

- I can confirm that Switzerland and Serbia will chair the OSCE in 2014 and 2015. This is the first time that two countries decided to jointly run for the presidency. This gives us the opportunity to make plans for OSCE work for a longer period of time - Maroevic said.

According to him, Ireland, which is currently chairing the OSCE, intends to immediately launch consultations with Switzerland and Serbia about their presidency over the organization.

Serbia will assume the OSCE chair for the first time in its history in 2015.

However, a positive decision would not only be a debut for Serbia, but also for the entire region as none of the former Yugoslav countries has ever been appointed to the office.

A decision on Switzerland's candidacy for the chair of the OSCE in 2014 was also reached on Friday. Switzerland and Serbia submitted their OSCE chair bids in Vilnius on December 7th.

Successive presidency is a new model for the OSCE, and Switzerland and Serbia have expressed willingness to jointly make a two-year plan.

The two countries have formulated the principles of cooperation in a document entitled Principles of Cooperation.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said earlier that Serbia was ready to take on a great responsibility and honor of chairing the OSCE, adding that that was the highest diplomatic recognition that a country might get.