OSCE Chair meets acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Kozhara, to discuss proposal for support by the Organization

MUNICH / BERN, February 1, 2014 – Didier Burkhalter, Swiss Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, met with Leonid Kozhara, acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine, to discuss ways the OSCE could assist Ukraine to overcome the crises.

“I could assure Mr Kozhara that the offer of the OSCE to support his country to find a peaceful political way to solve the crises, is still valid”, Burkhalter said with reference to his discussion with the then Ukrainian Premier Asarov at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. He underlined that the OSCE, of which Ukraine is a member and part of the current Troika, stands ready to put at disposal its tools and mechanisms to support the Ukrainian authorities in an inclusive dialogue framework but also its expertise regarding mid- to long-term activities, such as election support or assistance in judicial reform processes.

Burkhalter and Kozhara met at the margins of the Munich Security Conference. Burkhalter made use of the conference to discuss the situation in Ukraine also with leaders of Ukrainian opposition parties, Arseniy Yatseniuk and Vitali Klitschko, as well as with Catherine Ashton, EU-High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.