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Federal Councilor Alain Berset will open the WEF.
Sermin Fakipolitical chief
The World Economic Forum (WEF) offers the members of the Swiss state government the opportunity to meet many other heads of state, ministers and other decision-makers in a short time and without having to travel themselves. According to the Federal Chancellery, at least 50 bilateral meetings are planned for this year’s edition in Davos. Look says who meets whom.
Federal President Alain Berset (50) has a fixed appointment at the WEF: Together with WEF founder Klaus Schwab (84), he will open the event on Tuesday. He will also meet UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Davos together with Vice-President of the Federal Council Viola Amherd (60). Further meetings were arranged with the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Presidents of Ecuador and Colombia, Guillermo Lasso and Gustavo Petro.
From Europe, Berset will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda, Lithuanian Heads of State Gitanas Nauseda, Latvia Egils Levits and Moldovan Maia Sandu, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, among others. Berset will also take part in several WEF panel events.
Federal Councilor Viola Amherd, Vice-President of the Federal Council and Defense Minister, will meet her Dutch counterpart Kajsa Ollongren for bilateral talks. She and Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin (63) will also meet with Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti. For Federal Councilor Amherd, the focus is on the current security policy situation in the north of Kosovo and on Switzerland’s deployment as part of Swisscoy. In addition, the Minister of Defense will pay a visit to the army members of an infantry battalion in the Davos area as they work to ensure security at the event.
Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (60) put the continuation of Switzerland’s commitment to the reconstruction of Ukraine at the center of his talks at the WEF annual meeting. To this end, Switzerland is organizing the handover event of the Ukraine Recovery Conference “From Lugano to London” together with representatives from Great Britain and Ukraine.
Federal Councilor Cassis will also take part in events that address the war in Ukraine and its global consequences. In addition, relations with the EU and European countries characterize this year’s agenda. Foreign Minister Cassis will meet, among others, his counterparts from the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Spain as well as representatives of the Ukrainian government for talks.
Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (58) will exchange views with the finance ministers of several European countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Luxembourg – and is planning a meeting with EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. She will also meet IMF Director General Kristalina Georgieva and OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Liu He and the finance ministers of Brazil and Qatar.
Economics Minister Guy Parmelin will use the annual meeting in Davos to promote various thematic priorities in the areas of business, trade, research and innovation. Together with Federal Councilor Albert Rösti (55), he will meet Robert Habeck, the German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, in the run-up to the annual meeting on Monday, January 16, 2023.
In addition to the meeting with Kosovan Prime Minister Kurti, bilateral talks are also planned with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih, Czech Trade and Industry Minister Jozef Síkela and the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso.
An informal meeting of ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will also take place on the fringes of the WEF. At the invitation and chaired by Federal Councilor Parmelin, around 30 WTO members will discuss the objectives for the next regular WTO Ministerial Conference, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates in February 2024.
The new Minister for the Environment and Energy, Albert Rösti, will discuss issues related to the energy supply as a result of the gas and electricity shortages with the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Habeck. Talks between Federal Councilor Rösti and international players in the energy and telecommunications sectors are planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Federal Councilor Rösti will open a panel discussion on energy infrastructure and decarbonization together with the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency IEA, Fatih Birol. The event at the WEF is organized by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) and ETH Zurich.
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider
The new Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59) will not travel to the WEF. One has to make sure everything is going well in Bern when the others are in Davos.