The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) received the special accolade at the 2020 Bled Strategic Forum of being named Distinguished Partner for upholding BSF principles. Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Officer-in-Charge / Secretary General at the OSCE, accepted the award on behalf of the organisation.
Mr Tone Kajzer, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, said the OSCE, the world’s largest regional security organisation, has ” an impressive record in promoting peace and security and strengthening democracy, good governance and respect for human rights and […] provides a platform for dialogue”.
He said that the organisation’s role was even more important in the light of increasingly multi-dimensional threats to security and cooperation, including Covid-19, and thanked the OSCE for supporting the BSF, saying: “The OSCE has been a champion of the BSF since its earliest days”.
Accepting the award, Ambassador Yrjölä said that it was an honour to accept the award on behalf of the OSCE and called the BSF “one of the enduring legacies of the Slovenian OSCE chairmanship in 2005”.
She pointed out that the OSCE was “more needed than ever to promote dialogue and closer cooperation”, adding that the Bled forum provided “an essential subregional level for developing a mutual understanding of important regional and transnational issues and threats”.
“This strategic forum is a rare and distinguished contribution to what should probably be a much wider effort to bring together decision makers,” Yrjölä said.
