State Secretary of Slovak Foreign Ministry L. Parizek at MGIMO

20 February 2020

February 18th, MGIMO welcomed the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, also Special Representative of the Slovak Chairmanship of the OSCE, Lukas Parizek. The guest had a meeting with the leadership of the University and gave a talk to students.

MGIMO Rector A. Torkunov received L. Parizek. The Slovak delegation also comprised the Ambassador of Slovakia to Russia Peter Priputen, the Advisor to the Embassy Martina Poikansova Nedbalova, the Assistant to the Secretary of State Katarina Zembyakova and the Coordinator of the Slovak Foreign Ministry Robert Kirnag.

During the meeting with students, MGIMO’s Vice-Rector A. Malgin introduced Lukas Parizek, twice a graduate of the University, to the audience: «It’s good when our graduates are appreciated in their home countries and by their colleagues in the diplomatic service. The Slovak Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2019 is a reflection of this. » The current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honorary Doctor of MGIMO, Miroslav Lajcak is another prominent MGIMO alumni. It should also be noted that Slovaks are the largest group of MGIMO graduates working at the United Nations.

In 2019, the Slovak Republic ascended to the OSCE Chairmanship. L. Parizek gave a detailed account of the country’s experience chairing the Organization, its structure and principles, as well as the role the OSCE plays in the international community. The guest explained how the chairmanship works, with a progressive transfer of powers from the previous chairman of the Organization, Italy, to the following chairman, Slovakia, and then to Albania, which took over from 2020. L. Parizek remarked that the OSCE has several main lines of activity: military-political issues, economic-environmental issues and humanitarian issues. All these topics should be given adequate attention by the chairing country, noted the speaker.

The year of the OSCE chairmanship is split into two equal parts during which different missions are fulfilled. L. Parizek noted that at the start of 2019, Slovakia had to choose between pursuing its own line or listening to the needs of its partners. L. Parizek explained that the second strategy was selected and that it turned out to be successful. Among the positive outcomes of the Slovak chairmanship, L. Parisek mentioned the reform of the scale of contributions initiated by Slovakia and which the current chair country of the Organization plans to continue. According to the guest, the success of multilateral diplomacy is not just the ability to resolve a conflict or to improve a situation, but it is the ability to provide stability and avoid any deterioration.

After the formal part, L. Parizek recounted his life experience to students and gave a few words of advice to future diplomats and international civil servants.

L. Parizek also attended an informal meeting with Slovak students and was taken on a tour of the University’s History Museum.