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Austrian foreign minister visits Switzerland to discuss security and neutrality 

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the right, in front of the red Swiss flag with the white ‘plus’, and Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg shake hands. Schallenberg is on the left and stands in front of the Austrian flag, two red horizontal stripes with a white stripe in the middle and a black eagle at the centre. Both are wearing dark suits. They stand in front of a golden door in a room with golden wallpaper.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (right) and his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, in Bern on April 23, 2024. Keystone

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis received his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, at the Federal Palace in Bern on Tuesday.

The programme for the official visit included security policy issues and neutrality.   

Speaking to the media, Cassis described cooperation between the two countries as solid and dynamic. In addition to a one-to-one meeting, a visit to the army’s new cyber command centre was also planned, the foreign ministry announced beforehand.  

The two neutral countries are participating in the European Sky Shield initiative to build a ground-based integrated air defence system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. The initiative focuses on collective procurement, training, and exchange of information.  

Viola Amherd, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, visited the Austrian capital of Vienna at the beginning of April. During her visit, Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen described it as a “stroke of luck” that the countries could cooperate militarily. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp/sb 

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