Albania’s OSCE chairmanship won’t launch new initiatives on Donbas

Albania's OSCE chairmanship in 2020 will not push forward new initiatives to resolve the situation in Donbas but will focus on promoting implementation of existing arrangements and improving the lives of civilians on the ground.

"I don't think we need new initiatives. We need to implement what we already have. What we want to offer is not new initiatives but activities to encourage the implementation of existing arrangements. I think if we come up with new ideas, without fulfilling what we have agreed on, we will continue to destroy trust, those buds of trust that have emerged from the little progress that has been made," OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albania's Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Edi Rama said at a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office stressed that "good faith" was needed to build confidence and implement the agreements.

That is why, Edi Rama said, the focus during Albania's OSCE chairmanship will be on improving the situation on the ground, the lives of ordinary people in the conflict zone.

At the same time, he welcomed the actions of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky "on moving forward" as "it takes courage". "I support all his steps towards fulfilling agreements, formulas and formats, all decisions," Rama said.

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