Swiss foreign minister begins Asia-Pacific tour
Switzerland’s foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, has begun a four-day visit of the Asia-Pacific region. He will travel to China, India, South Korea and the Philippines to strengthen bilateral ties and in particular to drum up support for Swiss peace efforts in Ukraine.
Cassis began his Asia-Pacific tour in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Monday. He is visiting India, South Korea, China and the Philippines from February 5-8.
The objective of his visit is to strengthen ties with these countries and to discuss peace initiatives in Ukraine, according to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
+ Swiss economics minister in India for final push on EFTA trade agreement
In India, Cassis is due to discuss economic relations and bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, research and innovation. The talks with this founding member of the BRICS+ group will also broach important international issues of the moment, in particular possible paths to peace in Ukraine.
+ Switzerland plans to organise Ukraine peace summit
In mid-January, Swiss President Viola Amherd announced that Switzerland plans to support the reconstruction of Ukraine by organising a future peace conference and by helping to de-mine the war-torn country.
Amherd believes the initiative will be successful if a wide range of countries take part, such as India, South Africa, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. China, which has maintained links with Russia, is also seen as a key ally.
+ Switzerland wants greater human rights effort from China
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Mennonite movement turns 500 in Zurich, where it all began
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.