The Delegation of Switzerland to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is part of Switzerland's Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE, the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna. The Delegation represents the interests and concerns of Switzerland at the OSCE.
Switzerland has been represented at the OSCE in Vienna with a delegation since 1993. The delegation puts forward the interests and concerns of Switzerland in accordance with the aims and priorities defined under the Swiss Federal Constitution and the relevant strategic documents.
The delegation is headed by an Ambassador who represents Switzerland in the weekly meetings of the Permanent Council of the OSCE, its main policy-making organ. The delegation also represents Switzerland during the weekly meetings of the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), where the participating States draw up politico-military agreements relating to confidence- and security-building measures in the OSCE area.
In addition, the delegation helps prepare the annual Ministerial Council, the central decision-making organ of the OSCE, at which the foreign ministers of the participating States come together.
The staff of the delegation is actively involved in the work of the OSCE in its three dimensions: 1) the politico-military dimension 2) the economic and environmental dimension 3) the human dimension.
Switzerland seconds high-ranking diplomats to the OSCE and assumes, when appropriate, special mandates on its behalf.
From July 2017 to July 2020, the Swiss diplomat Thomas Greminger acted as Secretary-General of the Organisation. Another Swiss diplomat, Ambassador Heidi Grau, was appointed in January 2020 as the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and the Trilateral Contact Group. Ambassador Toni Frisch has been acting as the Coordinator of the Humanitarian Working Group within the Trilateral Contact Group since 2015.
