Ban, Dacic agree on need for peaceful solution in Ukraine

BELGRADE - Cooperation between the OSCE and the UN, situation in Ukraine and the OSCE's role in solving that crisis were the topics of a meeting between OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The meeting, also attended by OSCE Secretary General Lambero Zannier, was held ahead of a briefing Dacic is scheduled to hold before the UN Security Council concerning cooperation between the UN and the OSCE, the Serbian Foreign Ministry has stated.

Ban and Dacic agreed on the need to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine, stressing the opportunity presented by the agreement reached in Minsk on February 12.

The OSCE and the UN missions in Ukraine should investigate ways of strengthening cooperation, especially when it comes to humanitarian and human rights issues.

Dacic commended the efforts of the Trilateral Contact Group, adding that steps for the implementation of the set of measures adopted on February 12 had been defined, but that they could only be taken once a sustainable ceasefire was in force.

The OSCE special observation mission, which reports objectively from the area engulfed in confluct, is invaluable and unique in its significance, despite many challenges, he noted.

In the year that marks the 70th anniversary of the UN Charter and the 40th anniversary of the OSCE's Helsinki Final Act, these two organisations will continue to work closely together, Ban pointed out.

He stated that the OSCE was a large regional organisations that made decisions through consensus in order to facilitate international cooperation and conflict prevention and resolution.

Photo Ministry of Foreign Affairs/O. Stevanovic