International Cooperation
Vienna is the third headquarters of the United Nations Secretariat, beside New York and Geneva. The “Vienna International Centre”, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in October 1999, is the seat of important offices of the United Nations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organisation for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) and the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), to name but a few.
Austria has traditionally attached great importance to the United Nations’ activities and regards its UN policy as an integral part of foreign policy. Thus it is one of the countries which make available the largest number of troops for peacekeeping operations. All in all, more than 50,000 Austrians to date have served in the UN peacekeeping troops all over the world as soldiers, military observers, civilian policemen and civilian experts (see "Austria and the United Nations" and "Austrians in Peace-keeping Operations”).
Besides the UN offices, Vienna is also the home to a large number of other international organisations, which are located outside of the Vienna International Centre (VIC) and include, for instance, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) founded in Baghdad in 1960, and a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). For further information on the Vienna-based international organisations and institutions please refer to the link: "Vienna - Official Seat of International Organisations".
