Model OSCE: Second round of negotiations took place in Belgrade

One priority of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship is to strengthen the voice of young people and enhance their involvement within OSCE structures. To achieve this goal, the Swiss Chairmanship is organizing a Model OSCE series in which 57 young men and women from the OSCE participating States were invited to take part.

Following the first round of negotiations in January 2014 in Vienna, the second Model OSCE simulation took place from 8 to 10 July 2014 in Belgrade.

The Swiss OSCE Chairmanship organized the event in close co-operation with the Serbian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Serbian Foreign Ministry. Serbia’s Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovičić, the Head of Serbia's OSCE Chairmanship Task Force 2015 Ambassador Dejan Šahovic, Switzerland's Ambassador to Serbia Jean-Daniel Ruch and the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Ambassador Peter Burkhard opened the conference.

During these three days in Belgrade, the 57 Youth Ambassadors continued their negotiations on a Model OSCE Youth Action Plan which they had started in January in Vienna. At the end of the Belgrade conference, the Youth Ambassadors adopted the document by consensus in the framework of a simulated Model OSCE Ministerial Council.

The Model OSCE Youth Action Plan covers about 140 recommendations on various OSCE topics from a youth perspective, focusing on participation, protection and promotion of youth. In December 2014, the Youth Action Plan will be presented in the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel.

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