In a major shift at the top of the foreign ministry in Bern, the state secretary for foreign affairs, Pascale Baeriswyl, will be leaving her current position at the end of the year. Baeriswyl, the first woman to occupy the number two spot in the ministry, will take charge of the Swiss mission to the United Nations in New York as of spring 2020, the government announced on Wednesday. The posting was a recognition of Baeriswyl’s “long-standing professional experience, expertise in multilateral diplomacy and extensive network of international contacts,” the government wrote in a press release. It’s not clear who will replace her as the foreign ministry’s number two in Bern. Peace and politics expert Baeriswyl, a 51-year-old diplomat born in Bern, has prior experience at the Swiss mission to the UN, where she led the political section from 2008-2013. Appointed to her current function by Cassis’s predecessor Didier Burkhalter, Baeriswyl managed in her three-year stint to drive ...
