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Highlights of the 2014 Swiss OSCE chairmanship

  • Burkhalter has chaired the world's largest intergovernmental security organisation, comprising 57 member countries and 11 cooperation partners. (All pictures: Keystone) Keystone
  • One of Burkhalter's numerous field trips to OSCE missions and projects. In April, he travelled to Pristina as part of a tour of the Balkans. Pictured here with Krystyna Marty, the Swiss ambassador to Kosovo. Keystone
  • The conflict in Ukraine has defined OSCE activities in the field and on the political stage. Burkhalter and Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, sharing a light moment during a news conference in Kiev in May. Keystone
  • Leaders of the OSCE observer mission to Ukraine with Burkhalter. The establishment of a monitoring team is seen as a major achievement of the OSCE this year. Keystone
  • Burkhalter met Russian President Valdmir Putin in Moscow to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis when relations hit a low point after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Keystone
  • Burkhalter giving a keynote speech during an anti-Semitism conference in Berlin in November. Diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Germany were boosted by the Swiss OSCE chair. The organisation also put other hot topics such as foreign fighters, kidnapping and disaster relief on the agenda. Keystone
  • Burkhalter will vacate his OSCE chair at the end of December. His Serbian counterpart, Ivan Mrkic, is due to take over from him. Keystone
    This content was published on December 2, 2014 - 11:00
    swissinfo.ch

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