BERN, 17 March. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi went to Bern today on a diplomatic mission to meet the Swiss State Secretary for Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Chief Negotiator with the European Union, Livia Leu.
During the meeting, Ambassador Sequi highlighted the excellent state of bilateral relations with Switzerland, a country with deep historic, cultural and economic ties with Italy. Switzerland is actually Italy’s fifth most important business partner overall, exporting goods worth about 28 billion euros there following further growth in 2020 and 2021. Trade between the two countries is especially beneficial to Italy with a surplus of 16 billion euros.
Sequi and Leu also discussed the main international issues during the meeting, especially the Ukraine crisis. To this end, Sequi praised Switzerland’s decision to align with the EU sanctions against Russia.
Secretary-General Sequi also encouraged the resumption of talks between Switzerland and the European Union after Bern’s decision to interrupt negotiations with the EU on the institutional framework agreement in May 2021.
