On 25 March, National Council President Eric Nussbaumer received his counterpart Yerlan Qoshanov, the chairman of the lower house (Majlis) of the parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for an official visit to Bern. The talks focused on the positive development in trade relations between Switzerland and Kazakhstan, cooperation between the two countries in the Bretton Woods institutions, their respective stances on the war in Ukraine and cooperation between the countries of Central Asia in the area of water resources (Blue Peace), which is supported by Switzerland. The Kazakh delegation also paid a courtesy visit to Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, on 26 March.
Kazakhstan is the largest economy in Central Asia and as such is an important partner for Switzerland at both the bilateral and multilateral level. Switzerland is Kazakhstan's third-largest investor; over 40 Swiss companies are represented in Kazakhstan. The two countries also work closely together in the constituency groups of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Global Environment Fund (GEF).
On Tuesday, 26 March, National Council president Eric Nussbaumer received vice chairperson of the Chinese People's Congress, Xiao Jie. The talks focused on bilateral and economic relations, the partnership in the areas of education, research and innovation as well as multilateral cooperation and the international situation. Both parties also welcomed the resumption of relations at parliamentary level following the interruption caused by the COVID pandemic. The last official meeting took place in January 2020 during the visit to China of then National Council president Isabelle Moret (FDP, VD).
Switzerland and China have maintained close relations for decades. Switzerland was one of the first Western countries to recognise the People's Republic of China on 17 January 1950. Since 2010, China has been Switzerland's most important trading partner in Asia and its third most important trading partner after the EU and the USA. China is also one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, where Switzerland currently holds a non-permanent seat. In 2021, the Federal Council adopted a China strategy to strengthen the coherence of Swiss policy towards China. The strategy sets out the objectives and measures of Switzerland's China policy for the period 2021–2024 and defines these along the foreign policy priorities of peace and human rights, prosperity, sustainability and digitalisation. Switzerland is also one of around 60 countries that maintain a strategic partnership with China.
On the fringes of his working visit to Bern, Xiao Jie, vice chairman of China’s National People's Congress, was also received for a courtesy visit by Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER).
Photos of the official visit by the chairman of the Mäjilis, the lower house of the parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Photo of the working visit of the vice chairman of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.