President of the Confederation Didier Burkhalter travels to Vienna to launch the OSCE Chairmanship and meet with Austria

Mr Burkhalter, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), will make his first official appearance as Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE next Thursday at the organisation's headquarters in Vienna. At the first session of the Permanent Council of the OSCE in Vienna, Mr Burkhalter will set out the priorities of Switzerland's Chairmanship this year. The Permanent Council, in which the ambassadors of the OSCE's 57 participating States have a seat, meets once a week and is responsible for decision making and the operational implementation of the organisation's tasks. Ambassador Thomas Greminger, head of the Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE, will chair the Permanent Council in 2014. 

In addition, President Burkhalter will also meet with the heads of the 16 OSCE field operations that represent the OSCE in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia and that support their host countries' reform processes through specific projects. Next Thursday evening, Mr Burkhalter will also officially launch the "Youth for Security and Cooperation in Europe" project, in which 57 young women and men from the OSCE participating States will negotiate a youth action plan over the next few months which they will present to the ministers of the OSCE participating States at the Ministerial Council in Basel in December 2014. The project aims to help young people become more involved in the OSCE's work.

Under the leitmotif of "Creating a Security Community for the Benefit of Everyone", Switzerland has set three priorities for its Chairmanship of the OSCE:

- Promote security and stability: through dialogue and confidence-building efforts, Switzerland wants to contribute to solving conflicts, particularly in the Western Balkans and the South Caucasus. In addition, Switzerland supports efforts to facilitate transparency and reforms in the security forces.

- Improve people's living conditions: Switzerland wants to contribute to ensuring that all OSCE participating States fulfil their obligations to protect and respect human rights.

- Strengthen the OSCE's capacity to act: Switzerland supports the current reform process to enable the OSCE to respond more rapidly and efficiently to future crises, among other things through the further development of its own conflict mediation capacities. Another important objective of Switzerland's Chairmanship will be to regularly involve civil society and young people in the OSCE's activities.

Meeting with Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer

The priorities of Switzerland's OSCE Chairmanship will also be one of the topics Mr Burkhalter will discuss with Mr Fischer during the second day of his stay in Vienna. Bilateral issues and policy on Europe will also be discussed during this official working visit. After his meeting with the Austrian president, Mr Burkhalter will also meet with the new Austrian foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, and with Vice-Chancellor and new Minister of Finance Michael Spindelegger.

With this official bilateral meeting in Vienna, President Burkhalter is upholding the tradition according to which the heads of state of both countries make their first trip abroad to the neighbouring country. Austrian Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann is also honouring this tradition: he will be received for official talks on 21 January in Bern during his first trip abroad as head of the new Austrian government.

Further information:

Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Austria
Switzerland chairs the OSCE in 2014

Address for enquiries:

Information FDFA
Bundeshaus West
CH-3003 Bern
Tel.: +41 58 462 31 53
Fax: +41 58 464 90 47
E-Mail: info@eda.admin.ch

Publisher:

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs