Dendias at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Summit: Need to stabilize the situation in the Western Balkans

LAST UPDATE 17:10

The views of the Greek government on the need to stabilize the situation in the Western Balkans were developed by Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Riga. He further explained the challenges facing the region and the opportunities presented by their European course. “Today was a very interesting meeting here in Riga, in the context of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” Nikos Dendias said in a statement.

On the sidelines of the Summit, Nikos Dendias had bilateral meetings with the new Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands and Norway. “There are many commonalities, including issues of the Law of the Sea that can and should be discussed,” he said in a statement.

At the same time, Nikos Dendias participated in a meeting, chaired by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, on sub-Saharan Africa, the Sahel. The meeting invited countries, including Greece, which has a diplomatic presence in sub-Saharan Africa, Nikos Dendias said, recalling that the Mitsotakis government recently opened a new Greek embassy in Senegal.

In this context, as the Foreign Minister stressed, the security challenges that sub-Saharan Africa presents for Europe and how we will be able to deal with the many problems, humanitarian in principle, but also problems of terrorism and immigration, which arise from this area.

He attended a meeting for the Sahel

Nikos Dendias participated in a meeting on the Sahel, convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, with the participation of states that play an active diplomatic role in the region.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Riga.

Meeting with the new Foreign Minister of Norway

On the sidelines of the Summit, Nikos Dendias, after his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, had a brief meeting with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Anniken Huitfeldt. “I had a brief meeting with the new Norwegian Foreign Minister in the light of Norway’s participation in the UN Security Council,” Nikos Dendias said in a post on social media.

Meeting N. Dendia – Borrell

Concluding his visit to Riga, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias had a brief meeting with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.

Afterwards, Nikos Dendias will travel to Stockholm to participate in the 28th Ministerial Meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which will take place from 2 to 3 December.

The Foreign Minister will arrive in Stockholm today, where he will attend the working dinner of the Foreign Ministers of the 57 OSCE participating States, which will be hosted by the Swedish Foreign Minister.

Nikos Dendias will participate on Thursday, December 2, in the work of the above Ministerial Session, which will enable the participating ministers to review and evaluate the activities of the OSCE and to strengthen the dialogue on security issues in the Organization, as stated in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Also tomorrow, the Foreign Minister will attend a working lunch of the Foreign Ministers, which will be quoted by their Swedish counterpart, to discuss the effects of the crisis in Afghanistan on the OSCE region.

On the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting, Nikos Dendias is scheduled to have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from a number of OSCE participating States. In particular, he is expected to meet with the following Foreign Ministers: San Marino, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.