Good morning, this is Paula. Hot off hosting two sets of international negotiations, on Ukraine and Iran, in Geneva this week, Switzerland is again on the peace map, with its good offices having regained Washington’s appeal.
The meetings come as Bern chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and ahead of sending an observer delegation to Trump’s Board of Peace. |
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Switzerland's foreign minister Ignazio Cassis with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, 17 February 2026. (Keystone/Pool/Cyril Zingaro)
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On Thursday, ambassador Monika Schmutz Kirgöz was due to represent Switzerland at the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s newly launched Board of Peace in Washington. She will attend “as an observer”, according to the Swiss foreign affairs ministry. Whether Switzerland will formally join the body – which critics argue is designed to sideline the United Nations – will “be examined at a later stage by the Federal Council”.
The Swiss foreign ministry adds that Schmutz Kirgöz’s presence will also serve to “strengthen contacts with decision-makers in the US administration” and “position” Switzerland in its role as a peace broker.
The Washington visit comes amid an unusually intense period for Swiss diplomacy. Since the beginning of the year, foreign minister Ignazio Cassis has travelled extensively, including to Vienna, Kyiv, Moscow and Munich, as chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He is frequently accompanied by Gabriel Lüchinger, head of the foreign ministry’s international security division and something of a diplomatic Swiss army knife.
Geneva Solutions (EN)
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