I would like take the opportunity to address you in my national capacity.

Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to start by thanking Minister Linde for hosting us the excellent organization. I was looking forward to this event ever since we spoke about it in Tirana not so long ago.

I would also take this opportunity to congratulate her and the Swedish team in Vienna for their work during the Chairpersonship of the OSCE. I commend her for the strong leadership in what has been a quite challenging time for this organization and for security and cooperation in Europe in general.

However, this ministerial is a very good opportunity for all of us to take a deep breath and stop to think about the insecurity and instability that seem to be growing in the OSCE space. Because I believe the situation has not been this precarious in quite a while. Of course, right now most of the attention is focused in and around Ukraine. Which is a very concerning situation with real risks of escalation and seemingly very little room for dialogue. Because I think when parties to any conflict start talking about red lines, that is not very conducive to constructive discussions and negotiations.

But while the situation in Ukraine, with its potential repercussions for the security of Europe is actually drawing most of the attention, if we just pause for a moment and think, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that this has been a particularly bad year for the OSCE space.

We have seen war, we have seen plenty of threats of war and wars of words, we have seen escalating tensions, we have seen refugee crisis and generally speaking, a much more fluid and unpredictable security and cooperation environment than most of us would wish. And I am not even discussing here the threats from the pandemic or from climate change.

If I look at our area, the Western Balkans, where Albania seats, I do not remember being this concerned about the stability and security of the Western Balkans in a long while. Indeed, if you look at the trend of the Western Balkans over the past 2 decades at least, it has been one of consolidated peace and stability, growing cooperation and development and prosperity. And yet, suddenly old problems are coming up with newfound force and conjuring up the ghosts of the old politics of the Balkans from which our regions has suffered so much.

There are many explanations about what is going on. And I guess many of us will not see eye to eye on those explanations. But if we leave aside for a moment this inability to agree on the causes of the restlessness, if I may call it that, from which many of the areas under the OSCE umbrella seem to be suffering, I sense there is a bigger problem yet.

There is in many cases almost an outright rejection of dialogue, almost an impulse to think of problems in terms of zero-sum-game solutions. I do not want to overgeneralize and oversimplify. Many of the situations that concern us today do have history and backgrounds that are quite complex and intricate and not easy to solve. But if you look closely in many cases, the parties to any disagreement seem to have a preference for saying their last words first and leaving very little room for dialogue.

This in itself is not the cause, but rather a symptom of something deeper that is happening in international relations today. Many of the principles around which organizations such as the OSCE were founded, are being eroded. Respect for dialogue, respect for the rules based system, respect for negotiations. The entire architecture of peace and security and stability that has governed not just Europe, but the world, if being eroded. That I believe, is the real problem.

As I said, dialogue is never easy. Especially in a climate of significant polarization in international and domestic politics. But I staunchly believe that dialogue is the only way.

It is this belief and commitment to the value of dialogue that underpins Albania’s foreign policy. That is the reason why in our region we have embarked on an unparalleled action, the Open Balkans Initiative, which in essence, is an effort to expedite the Berlin Process.

Of course, there are unresolved issues between and among many of the people and countries in our region. But we believe that by talking, by cooperating, by showing our people and our communities how they stand to profit from cooperation, instead of conflict, we will create an imperative for peace and stability and working together.

We strongly believe that organizations such as the OSCE, ultimately all of us that make up this organizations, have an obligation to uphold the principles and the rules that form the foundations of not just this organization or any other organization, but of peace, security and development.

And we should not forget even for a moment, that the erosion of these principles, the instability that erosion produces, form a threat in equal measure to all of our countries and societies. Because we all, face a difficult battle with violent radicalism, transnational organized crime, trafficking or as the past 2 years have shown pandemics or climate change.

It is because of this that Albania supported Sweden’s back to basics approach. It was the belief in dialogue and cooperation and commitment to the rule based system that informed our work during our chairpersonship of the organization.

And I want to underline, that this approach will also guide Albania’s work when it very shortly, in less than a month will sit at the UN Security Council for a two-year mandate. We face this unique opportunity for a small country like Albania with realism about what we can truly achieve.

But we also face this opportunity with optimism too because we believe that we have important ideas and solutions to contribute to the major issues that concern us. By drawing on the experience of our OSCE Chairpersonship I believe that we can have an impact, of course by joining forces with likeminded countries on issues that we very strongly believe in like Women, Peace and Security.

We strongly value the role of the OSCE in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and we strongly commend Sweden and its commitment to this agenda which Albania too pursued with commitment during its chair of the organization. Gender equality, Women, Peace and Security have become one of the main pillars of the Albanian domestic and foreign policy, and our first priority in Albania’s UN Security Council mandate.

But this is not the only agenda in which we are working to have an active role and make an impact. We are striving too, to explore new partnerships and consolidate existing ones with an eye to the security challenges the OSCE area faces from the situations in Afghanistan or North Africa. We will build on the good work Albania had done during its Chair of the Organization, including the achievements of the Tirana Ministerial Council, its position in the Troika, and its work as Chair of the OSCE Asian Partners when it comes to Afghanistan, or the advancement of the Mediterranean dimension of our security.

Once again, congratulations for the Swedish leadership during 2021. We wish success to our Polish friends on their upcoming chairmanship, as well as to our neighbour, North Macedonia, as a new Troika member.

Thank you!