OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovak FM Lajcak commends Kuchma's initiatives regarding Donbas settlement
KYIV. June 13 (Interfax) - Slovakia, the current chair of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has welcomed the latest initiatives of Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) and ex-president Leonid Kuchma, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said.
Speaking at a joint press conference that he attended together with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv, Lajcak welcomed the working atmosphere that he believes has returned to the TCG and hailed the four initiatives earlier voiced by Kuchma. There is certain potential in those initiatives and it can change all of the rhetoric in the conflict, he said. Slovakia is hoping that all players on the arena will uphold those initiatives, Lajcak said.
Lajcak also revealed that at his meeting with Klimkin, he had come up with initiatives of his own to achieve progress in the humanitarian aspect of the Donbas situation.
As part of the initiatives, Lajcak proposed repair and restoration work on the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge, protection for civil infrastructure facilities, mine clearance for humanitarian purposes, exchanging persons held by the conflicting parties, opening additional checkpoints, addressing possible environmental problems, improving the healthcare system and restoring passenger services across the contact line.
Slovakia's OSCE Chairmanship began on January 1, 2019.