The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2018 Annual Session opened in Berlin on 8 July 2018 with calls for greater political will to ensure the full implementation of international commitments found in the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE documents.

With nearly 300 parliamentarians from North America, Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa in attendance, the Annual Session is taking place in the Reichstag, the seat of the German Bundestag. The opening session featured speeches by Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the German Bundestag; George Tsereteli, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly; Olaf Scholz, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance for Germany; and Guglielmo Picchi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation for Italy, representing the Italian OSCE Chairmanship.