President, PM Congratulate Helga Schmid on Appointment as OSCE Sec General

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia have congratulated Helga Schmid on becoming Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“Congratulations to Helga Schmid on becoming the next Secretary General of the OSCE. Security in the Caucasus is crucial for the stability of all of Europe. A lot of work awaits and I wish you success in continuing the Organization’s work toward peace and dialogue,” the President of Georgia wrote on Twitter.

“My sincere congratulations to Helga Schmid, EU, on taking up the post of the Secretary General of the OSCE. Confident that your leadership will unlock new opportunities for advancing issues that are of crucial importance for the international community and for Georgia as well,” Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia tweeted. 

Foreign ministers from 57 OSCE member countries appointed Helga Schmid as OSCE Secretary General, and other officials, on December 4 through a consensus reached during an online meeting.

The German Secretary General of the EU diplomatic service is best known as one of the chief negotiators of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers.

Schmid takes over the Vienna-based OSCE as the conflict-resolution platform faces crises in Belarus, Ukraine and the regional Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The post of OSCE Secretary General and other senior posts had been vacant since July, after Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkey opposed extending the terms of the OSCE's media and democracy watchdogs.

By Ana Dumbadze