Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis to visit Cuba and the United States
Bern, 06.04.2023 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the FDFA, will travel to Havana on 10 April to meet his Cuban counterpart Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla. He will then travel to Washington to attend the 2023 spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund on 12 and 13 April. Mr Cassis will then travel on to Chicago to be briefed on the operations of the Swiss consulate general, for the first time since it was reopened in 2019.
In Havana, Mr Cassis and Mr Rodríguez Parrilla will take stock of two decades of Swiss development cooperation in Cuba and discuss the gradual phasing out of cooperation activities by 2024. Swiss bilateral development cooperation in Latin America is being phased out in line with the International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24. The two foreign ministers will also discuss the human rights situation on the island and the challenges facing Swiss investors.
Following his visit to Cuba, Mr Cassis will travel to Washington DC on 12 and 13 April to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. He will take part in the World Bank's third ministerial roundtable discussion on aid to Ukraine. The focus will be on medium-term support, major reconstruction projects and international cooperation. Mr Cassis will announce the Federal Council's plan to allocate an additional CHF 1.5 billion to Ukraine as part of Switzerland's International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24. Together with the CHF 300 million earmarked for 2023–24, the Swiss Confederation intends to provide at leastCHF 1.8 billion to Ukraine over the next six years.
Mr Cassis will also take the opportunity to establish contacts with high-level representatives of the World Bank Group and of the member states of Switzerland's voting group in the Bretton Woods institutions.
First briefing since reopening of consulate general in Chicago
Mr Cassis will conclude his trip with a visit to Chicago to be briefed on the operations of the Swiss consulate general, for the first time since it was reopened in 2019. The reopening of the consulate general was requested by Parliament and was intended to provide more effective support for Swiss companies operating in the Chicago metropolitan area. Mr Cassis' trip is in keeping with the implementation of the Americas Strategy adopted by the Federal Council in February 2022 to ensure greater coherence in Switzerland's approach to the Americas and its foreign policy.
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