News and press releases

GENEVA, 3 October 2014- Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, gave an opening address to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which is meeting in Geneva for its autumn session this weekend. Recalling that the ‘Helsinki Final Act’ was negotiated in the very same conference building in Geneva four decades ago, he argued that the vision and determination of the CSCE founding fathers should be an inspiration to all to embark on collective efforts to overcome the current crisis of European security...

BERN, 2 October 2014 – Appalled by the killing of ten persons in a school during shelling yesterday in Donetsk, and by the violent death of a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation today, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Didier Burkhalter, urged all sides to immediately stop fighting, to strictly observe the ceasefire and to implement the measures agreed upon in the Minsk Protocol of September 5 and the related Memorandum of September 19. He expressed his condolences to the families of the many men, women and children who lost their lives due to the violent conflict...

New York, September 26, 2014- On the margins of the UN-General Assembly in New York, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter launched a discussion on how to overcome the crisis of European security that has deepened in the face of the crisis in and around Ukraine. At today’s informal meeting attended by more than 25 foreign ministers and representatives of around 35 OSCE participating States as well as representatives of partner States and security organizations, Burkhalter sketched out three avenues towards reconsolidating European security as a common project and invited participants to outline their views on how best to proceed.

New York City, 25 September 2014 – The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France) met with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov this week at the United Nations General Assembly. The Co-Chairs were joined by the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

BERN, September 20 2014- Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, noted with satisfaction the signing of a Memorandum on 19 September, 2014, outlining the parameters for the implementation of the cease-fire commitments laid down in the Minsk Protocol of 5 September 2014...

On 19 September 2014 the 48th meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Toivo Klaar, the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship for the South Caucasus...

Bern, September 17 2014 – Following the adoption of two important laws in the Ukrainian Parliament, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter commended Ukraine for the progress made in the implementation of the Minsk Protocol signed on 5 September. This protocol aims at the implementation of President Poroshenko’s Peace Plan and of President Putin’s initiatives.