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  • Working visit by Finnish Minister Annika Saarikko

    Berne

    Alain Berset receives Annika Saarikko in Berne for a working visit. She is Finland’s Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services, within the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

  • UN High-Level Week in New York and lecture in Philadelphia

    New York

    Alain Berset represents Switzerland at the opening of the 73rd General Assembly, with Ignazio Cassis. On 25 September, he speaks in the general debate: the crisis of multilateralism, the Middle East, Syria, Yemen, the protection of health workers in conflict, support for António Guterres’s reforms. “We can only successfully meet the challenges posed by rising […]

  • 17th Summit of La Francophonie in Yerevan

    Erevan

    Alain Berset represents Switzerland at the 17th Summit of La Francophonie, in Yerevan. Theme: “Living together in solidarity, sharing humanist values and respecting diversity”. Switzerland presents a resolution on cultural participation: opening culture to as many people as possible, making creation a factor of social cohesion. It also supports the organisation’s strategy on equality between […]

  • Presentation of credentials: Croatia and Belgium

    Berne

    At the Federal Palace, Alain Berset receives in audience the new ambassadors of Croatia, Andrea Bekić, and of Belgium, Willy Debuck. They present the letters accrediting them to the Federal Council. The ceremony falls to the President of the Swiss Confederation. Sources Federal Council, press release of 16.10.2018

  • 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Brussels

    Bruxelles

    Alain Berset takes part in the 12th ASEM summit, at the invitation of Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker. Theme: “Europe and Asia: global partners for global challenges”. The forum brings together 53 partners; Switzerland joined it in 2012. His statement in the plenary describes a “paradox of our time”: challenges are becoming international, while multilateralism […]

  • UNCTAD World Investment Forum

    Genève

    At the Palais des Nations, Alain Berset opens the World Investment Forum, alongside Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, and María Fernanda Espinosa, President of the UN General Assembly. Theme: “Investing in sustainable development”. Some 5,000 participants. He points out that foreign direct investment fell by 23% in 2017 and warns against nationalist withdrawal. “If we […]

  • Second Digitaltag, Zurich main station

    Zurich

    The second national digital day, organised by digitalswitzerland in a dozen stations and venues across the country. Alain Berset speaks at Zurich main station. Johann Schneider-Ammann and Ignazio Cassis also take part in the day. His speech asks two questions: what must change, and what must be kept? To change: education, social insurance, data protection, […]

  • Lecture at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford

    Oxford

    At the invitation of Dean Ngaire Woods, Alain Berset speaks to students of the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, then takes questions from the audience and from Swiss students at Oxford. Subject: democracy in the face of inequality. The title of the lecture: “Boring can be good”. He starts from Oscar […]

  • Official visit by the President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca

    Berne

    Alain Berset receives the President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, in Berne on an official visit. On the agenda: bilateral relations, European policy, migration in the Mediterranean. Both countries want a reform of the Dublin system, for a fairer sharing of refugees in Europe. They also discuss Syria and Libya, two weeks before the Palermo […]

  • Official visit to Romania

    Bucarest

    A visit to Romania, which will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU for the first time from January 2019. It is the first bilateral presidential visit since 2011. At the Cotroceni Palace, Alain Berset discusses with President Klaus Iohannis the institutional agreement under negotiation between Switzerland and the EU, the integration of […]

  • Centenary of the 1918 general strike, Swiss National Museum

    Zurich

    At the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, Alain Berset speaks at the opening of the exhibition on the general strike of November 1918: 250,000 strikers, three days of national shutdown, the army deployed, three dead in Grenchen. He sees it as a “Stunde der Wahrheit” for Swiss democracy and a lesson in compromise: “Wir sind […]

  • Foreign Press Association in Switzerland

    Berne

    Alain Berset is the guest at the lunch of the Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In his speech, he describes a “slow erosion of the rules-based international order” and links it to the self-determination initiative, put to the vote on 25 November. The text, he says, would threaten every treaty, from the WTO […]