On 28-29 October 2021, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Mircea Geoană, travelled to the Swiss Confederation.
On the first day of his visit, the NATO Deputy Secretary General met with high-level officials from international organisations and other relevant international stakeholders, including Mr Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, Ms. Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and Mr Borge Brenda, President of the World Economic Forum. These meetings support NATO 2030 agenda and decisions to broaden and strengthen NATO’s relations with like-minded partners, including international organisations. In his engagements, the Deputy Secretary General reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to the international rules-based order. He discussed NATO’s current agenda, with special emphasis to innovation and emerging and disruptive technologies; resilience and climate change.
On 29 October, the Deputy Secretary General participated in the Chambésy Roundtable on European Security hosted by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He also met with Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Alexander Grushko, Ms. Helga Schmid, Secretary General of the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE), and Ambassador Thomas Greminger, Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).
Switzerland is a longstanding, valued partner for NATO. Bilateral cooperation began when Switzerland joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1996 and became a member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in 1997.