Pascale Baeriswyl, the new Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter on Friday
Keystone
The cabinet has appointed Pascale Baeriswyl Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to replace Yves Rossier, who becomes the new Swiss ambassador in Moscow.
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Basel-born Baeriswyl was named the foreign ministry’s number two after an open competition process for the post, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. It is the first time a woman has held this prestigious post, although Micheline Calmy-Rey held the top spot, foreign minister, from 2003-2011.
The 48-year-old diplomat recently headed the division in charge of international law, the so-called Asset Recovery Task Force and international treaties.
A trained lawyer, historian and skilled linguist, Baeriswyl joined the foreign ministry in 2000 after working as a researcher at the Swiss National Science Foundation and as a judge.
She also worked as deputy head of the Human Rights Section, responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. From 2005 to 2008, she was in charge of security and foreign policy at the Swiss mission to the European Union in Brussels. From 2008 to 2013, she headed the political section of the Swiss mission to the United Nations in New York.
She replaces Yves Rossier, who was Switzerland’s top negotiator for talks on institutional issues with the EU until Jacques de Watteville was handed the role last August. Rossier then focused increasingly on Swiss relations with countries in the Middle East.
Not forgetting…
On Friday the cabinet also announced a raft of other diplomatic appointments. These included Krystyna Marty Lang, until recently head of mission in Pristina, who was appointed deputy state secretary and deputy head of the Directorate of Political Affairs.
Former Swiss ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Alexandre Fasel, was appointed to head the Swiss embassy in London.
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A foreign ministry spokesman on Friday confirmed a report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. Burkhalter said he would advise on the new appointments – including Rossier’s new post – in autumn, according to an internal note to foreign ministry staff seen by the Swiss News Agency. Rossier, 55, was named the foreign ministry’s number two at…
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In an interview with the Tages-Anzeiger and Der Bund newspapers on Wednesday, Rossier was asked whether he could accept the current situation in which Turks in Switzerland who don’t support Erdogan were being threatened by the Turkish government and affiliated organisations. “The tone adopted by some exponents is unpleasant,” Rossier admitted. “But it can’t be…
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Rossier travelled to Iraq from April 19 to 22 to intensify contacts with the federal authorities in Baghdad and the Kurdish authorities in Erbil, the foreign ministry said on Friday. There he was briefed on the country’s fight against the Islamic State and the regional situation. He also visited Swiss humanitarian aid projects, while identifying…
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His task is to coordinate the different bilateral dossiers, including the thorny issue of immigration quotas for EU citizens approved by Swiss voters in February 2014. “It is a difficult task,” said Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter during a news conference on Wednesday. He added the aim was to achieve a balanced result in negotiations with…
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