The OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers has officially appointed German diplomat Helga Schmid as Secretary-General of the organization. This was announced by the German mission to the OSCE on their Twitter page.
The OSCE Ministerial Council also appointed Italian Human Rights Defender Matteo Mecacci as Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The Council also appointed former Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov as High Commissioner for National Minorities Affairs, and Portuguese diplomat Maria Teresa Ribeiro as Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Schmid, who has served as Secretary General of the European External Action Service since September 2016, will be the first woman to hold this position. Her previous post made her virtually "number two" in EU diplomacy, after High Representative Josep Borrell.
Schmid has been deputy secretary general and political director of the service since 2011. She played an important role in the negotiations in Ukraine during the events of the Revolution of Dignity, as well as during the conflict with Russia in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation at the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) expects that the OSCE will form its position and possibly, will provide its offers for the further consideration of the plan for the settlement of the Donbas Conflict until November 10 .
