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Swiss president says ties with France to be renewed

The Swiss president, Ignazio Cassis, says France is willing to relaunch a dialogue on close cooperation.


macron, his wife and cassis
Cassis posing with French President Macron (left) and his wife Brigitte Macron in the Élysée Palace in Paris. Keystone / Gonzalo Fuentes

Cassis was speaking in Paris on Friday following talks with the French president, Emanuel Macron, on the sidelines of an international conference.

The meeting between Cassis and Macron focused on bilateral and multilateral cooperation, ties between Switzerland and the European Union, as well as the war in Ukraine, according to a foreign ministry statement.

“The time has come to revitalise our relations,” said Cassis, who is also Swiss foreign minister. “We had to put tensions behind us look forward.”

He added that Macron expressed the intention to leave tensions between the two neighbouring country behind and look ahead with optimism.

Last year, Macron cancelled a high-level meeting with the Swiss president following the Swiss government’s decision to buy F-35A jets from the United States, snubbing an offer by the French company Rafale.

Bilateral relations have also been strained over the taxation of French cross-border workers.

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