Official visit by FDFA State Secretary Yves Rossier to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran
Bern, 26.11.2015 - The State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Yves Rossier, returned on Thursday from a three-day official visit to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. He had diplomatic talks in Riyadh on 23 November, in Kuwait on 24 November and in Tehran on 25 November.
The numerous meetings that took place during these three days covered various political topics of mutual interest, including the strengthening of bilateral relations between Switzerland and the countries concerned, the consequences for the region and Iran of implementing the comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, and regional political matters, in particular the situations in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Mr Rossier expressed Switzerland's concern about human rights violations in the kingdom. In Riyadh he met the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Relations, Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabir, and the Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations, Khalid Al Jindan. He also had talks with the Undersecretary for Finance, Hamad Sulaiman Al Bazi’l, and with Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.
In Kuwait, Mr Rossier had talks with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khaled Sulaiman Al-Jarallah, in the course of which the two officials discussed bilateral relations and various current regional issues.
Finally, in Tehran, Mr Rossier spoke about possible cooperation between Switzerland and Iran in the areas of judicial affairs and international security. The FDFA State Secretary also raised the matter of a possible resumption of formal dialogue between the two countries on human rights, a key issue for Switzerland. Juvenile justice, the death penalty, torture, minority rights and freedom of expression would all be included in such formal dialogue. A first meeting between the two parties on the resumption of dialogue is to take place next spring.
Mr Rossier met several Iranian officials, including his counterpart the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for American and European affairs, Majid Takht Ravanchi, and the Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian. He also had talks with Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, the head of the High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani and the assistant secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Iravani.
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