The first closed meeting of the 2022 Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will take place in Vienna on Thursday.

The key topic of the meeting is the presentation by Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau to the member states of this regional structure of the priorities of the Polish OSCE chairmanship that took over from Sweden on January 1. There will be no special thematic discussion of the ongoing negotiations between Russia and the U.S. on security guarantees, TASS reported.

The constituent meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council at the beginning of the year is traditionally devoted to the presentation of the chairman-in-office's program and counterstatements by representatives of the 57 participating states of the organization, including Russia and the United States, in which they may touch upon individual issues of European security. The Polish Chairmanship said Rau will present the 2022 program, focusing on initiatives to resolve regional and frozen conflicts by supporting regional OSCE structures and institutions, efforts to support civilians in conflict zones and actions to promote sustainable development in the OSCE region as it recovers from the pandemic.

The OSCE participating States will also be able to make statements on Poland's priorities and their visions of the situation in the OSCE area of responsibility.

A spokesman for the Polish chairmanship said in response to a TASS reporter's question that this will not be a special meeting on individual tensions in the OSCE region. Speaking about the possibility of discussing Russia's talks with the U.S. and NATO on security guarantees, he said that the first meeting this year should inform the ambassadors of OSCE member states what Poland's priorities will be. Rau will also hold a joint press conference for journalists with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid.