"The expansion will not change my existing mandate, but will increase the number of field assistants".

The work on expanding the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (PR CiO) is well advanced, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, exculisvely told on May 29.

The ambassador noted that at the summit of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna on 16 May, the presidents agreed to finalise an OSCE investigative mechanism, to expand the Office of the PR CiO, to continue the exchange of data on missing persons and to hold the next round of talks with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.

"To this end, I was asked by the Chairperson-in-Office to prepare a concept for the expansion of my Office, with the support of the OSCE Secretariat," Kasprzyk said. "The work is well advanced and I hope to present the final outcome in the coming days for approval by the participating states of the OSCE in Vienna, including an updated budget."

The ambassador stressted that the expansion will not change his existing mandate, but will increase the number of field assistants. "Thus my Office will be able to increase the number of monitoring exercises, as well as have more regular contact with the authorities," he said.

The amabssador added that this will allow the OSCE Chairmanship and the co-chairs to receive more comprehensive information about the ongoing situation and provide a more rapid and flexible response to requests for support under his current mandate, reducing the risk of escalation.