IRAK DIE WIEGE DER ZIVILISATION

LE MONDE FOREIGN AFFAIRS
fully, peace and security, and how to deal with refugees,
are global challenges which can only be
overcome by working together. One important target
audience is our young people; at the end of the day,
it’s their future in particular that we’re talking about
here. The launch event in Austria, which we’ve organised
together with partners from the Austrian Development
Cooperation, has been targeted at young
people, and communicates knowledge surrounding
this development cooperation theme in what I hope
will be a fresh and exciting way. Erik Solheim, Chair
of the Development Aid Committee of the OECD,
has praised Austria for the way it has involved the
private sector and the Austrian Development Cooperation’s
work in Moldova. And because we are doing
good things at present, of course, we should be continuing
to redouble our efforts. We take this request
extremely seriously, of course. That’s why I think increasing
financial resources from public as well as
private sources is so very important. Development
cooperation and its financing are not just tasks for
my own department, however; they are responsibilities
of the entire government. I’m very pleased to see
that together with the respective Finance Ministers,
we succeeded in avoiding making the cutbacks in the
budget for bilateral development cooperation in
both 2014 and 2015, and I shall of course be working
to strengthen future development cooperation.
In your speech to the General Assembly of the OSCE, you
declared that you were prepared to take over Chairmanship
of the OSCE in 2017. What do you think will be the greatest
challenges facing you when you do so?
Chairmanship of the OSCE is a huge challenge,
both at an organisational level and in terms of content,
so we will need to get the process of preparation
moving at as early a stage as possible. We shall be
supporting the chairmanships of Serbia in 2015 and
Germany in 2016 to the best of our abilities. In light
of the crisis in Ukraine, the OSCE has proven to be
the core organisation for security in Europe. Events
have made clear, however, that this system needs to
be updated and strengthened. It was against this
backdrop as much as anything else that I offered to
take over the chairmanship in 2017. We see our
chairmanship as a sign of our commitment to a
peaceful, free and common Europe based on cooperation
and dialogue, and are hoping to receive the
support of the international community in achieving
this goal.
At the opening event of the European Year for Development
in Austria, together with Development Commissioner Neven
Mimica.
The Conference of Western Balkan States is being held in
Salzburg this year. How are preparations for this going, and
what do you think its core themes will be?
We’re currently in the middle of preparations for
the Conference of Western Balkan States on 27th
August, which will be held in Salzburg. The heads of
government, foreign ministers and economic ministers
of the seven states of the former Yugoslavia and
Albania will be participating, and I’m very pleased to
say that there will also be other high-level addresses,
including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
representatives of the EU, such as High Representative
Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes
Hahn. The core themes will be infrastructure expansion,
strengthening of the rule of law, and regional
cooperation. Civil society is also an important theme
for us, which is why we’re also planning to hold a
Civil Society Conference just before the summit
takes place itself.
You have repeatedly emphasised that you would like to
position Austria even more strongly as a location for
dialogue. What initiatives are you planning for 2015 in order
to achieve this?
As one of the UN’s four permanent seats, Vienna
makes a natural venue for dialogue. In 2015, we shall
PHOTOS: DRAGAN TATIC
Left: Sebastian Kurz meets Kofi Annan at the Security Conference in Munich at the beginning of February 2015.
Right: Speaking to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pawlo Klimkin at the OSCE Security Council in December 2014.
be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding
of the United Nations, and the 60th anniversary of
Austria becoming a member of the UN. We want to
use these anniversaries to continue strengthening dialogue
with Viennese UN organisations on the one
hand, and to bring the UN’s work closer to Austrians
on the other hand. To do this, we’re planning a series
of events targeted at a broad public, i.e. not just diplomats
and experts, but also the public at large, all
with the aim of contributing to stronger dialogue. At
times like this, possibly more than any other – when
the global community is exposed to ever-greater
challenges – it’s absolutely crucial that we focus on
multilateral cooperation and mutual understanding.
Austrian foreign policy also has a decades-long tradition
of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
The new pluralism in Austrian society demands dialogue
both within Austria and with our neighbours
and partners. Important bilateral projects on Islam
in the best Austrian tradition of dialogue are being
prepared for 2015. The Task Force Dialogue of Cultures
also considers projects with new dialogue partners,
including China. The Intercultural Achievement
Award (IAA), which I presented for the first
time last year and which is open to participants
around the world, will be held again this year.
What measures is the Foreign Ministry taking to network
domestic economic movers and shakers with international
diplomats?
The newly set-up enterprise service will be spearheading
our efforts in this area. Business diplomacy,
which is also a natural setting for targeted networking
by domestic companies, has always been a central
area of activity of the Foreign Ministry in its own
right. I wanted to make this aspect of our daily work
more visible to the public at large by setting up the
enterprise service, so Austrian companies can now
address their concerns and queries directly to a central
point of contact. The global network of the
BMEIA, which represents more than 100 authorities,
offers specific added value in this field, such as providing
exporters and investors with sound political
analyses and forecasts, and a means of accessing
high-ranking political decision-makers abroad. We
also proactively network our entrepreneurs with international
diplomats through a wide range of
events, such as our “One Day At...” company tours
and regular “Foreign Trade Round Table” meetings.
In addition to this, we work hard to draw companies’
attention to any procurements being made by international
organisations, and promoting contacts with
those organisations.
“At times like
this – when the
global community
is exposed to evergreater
challenges
– it’s absolutely
crucial that we focus
on multilateral
cooperation and mutual
understanding.”
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