Switzerland maintains close relations with its neighbouring countries.
Standing delegations foster bilateral interparliamentary dialogue, and official visits are regularly made at the level of parliamentary president. This is now the case with Italy: Switzerland's southern neighbour is its third-largest trading partner, and Italians make up the
largest group of foreign nationals living in Switzerland. After the difficulties in maintaining parliamentary relations during the pandemic, the two parliaments are now stepping up their direct exchanges again.
Following on from a
visit by President of the Council of States Thomas Hefti and President of the National Council Irène Kälin to the president of the Italian senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, in Rome at the start of May, President of the Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico will pay an official visit to the Swiss parliament on 7 June. The agenda for his working meeting with
Ms Kälin includes bilateral relations between Switzerland and Italy, in particular the status of ratification of the new
agreement on the taxation of cross-border commuters, as well as Switzerland's relations with the EU and the war in Ukraine.
During his visit, Roberto Fico will also meet with members of the
Delegation for relations with the Italian Parliament (Del-I). Furthermore, the programme includes a meeting with Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer, representing the President of the Confederation, and State Secretary Livia Leu.
The next day, Ms Kälin welcomes her Czech counterpart, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, President of the Chamber of Deputies. Switzerland and the Czech Republic maintain close relations in numerous fields, including education, research and innovation. The Czech Republic is one of Switzerland’s main trading partners among the new EU member states and is an important country for Swiss investors in Central Europe. It is also a beneficiary country of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. The war in Ukraine and its impact on the European security architecture will be a key topic of discussion. With the Czech Republic set to take over the EU council presidency from July, talks will also cover the state of Swiss–EU relations.
The last official visit of the summer session is from Albania. On 14 June, Speaker of the Parliament of Albania Lindita Nikolla will meet Ms Kälin and Mr Hefti. Their working meetings will focus on
technical cooperation between the Swiss and Albanian parliaments, Albania's reform process and the current situation in the Western Balkans. Albania is a priority country for Swiss development cooperation. Ms Nikolla will therefore also meet Patricia Danzi, Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), to discuss the new
Swiss Cooperation Strategy for Albania for 2022–25.