Ambassador Tagliavini made a decisive contribution to advancing the difficult peace process in Ukraine despite setbacks. As Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Ukraine and member of the Trilateral Contact Group (comprising high-ranking representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office) her participation was decisive in ensuring that several milestone documents were signed in September 2014 and February 2015 in Minsk. The Minsk Agreements provide the only basis acceptable to all sides for a ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
"Ambassador Tagliavini's exceptional services to this process have been acknowledged by all those directly involved and at the highest international level, and merit our respect," says Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. "I thank Ambassador Tagliavini for her work in fulfilling her very challenging mandate in Ukraine. I am pleased that thanks to her untiring work Switzerland's commitment to peace and understanding in the world has brought results and high-level international recognition".
"As the new Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Martin Sajdik takes on no easy task. I wish him every success in fulfilling this major responsibility and all the perseverance he will need," Mr Burkhalter added. Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini was appointed by the former OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and President of the Swiss Confederation, Didier Burkhalter, as his special representative in Ukraine on 8 June 2014. In January 2015, the current OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Serbian Foreign Minister, Ivica Dačić, extended Ambassador Tagliavini's mandate.
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