The 62-year-old Alexandre Fasel will take up his new position as State Secretary of the FDFA on 1 September 2023. Thanks to his long career as a head of mission at multilateral and bilateral level as well as his numerous positions in Bern, he has the necessary qualities and experience to fill this key position in the FDFA.

The State Secretary advises the head of the FDFA and the Federal Council on all foreign policy issues, ensures the implementation of the Federal Council's foreign policy strategy, heads the FDFA's State Secretariat as well as Switzerland's external network with its approximately 170 representations.

He also supports the head of the FDFA on domestic policy issues and cooperation with parliament and the cantons, in particular on all international issues with domestic implications such as the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, relations with the EU, work in the UN Security Council and international crisis management.

Alexandre Fasel studied law in Fribourg and Oxford. He began his career at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 1992. After posts in Bern, Ottawa, Canberra, Geneva - as Head of Switzerland's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the other international organisations - and a stint in the private sector, he was appointed Deputy State Secretary of the FDFA in August 2016. In September 2017, he became Swiss Ambassador to Great Britain before moving to Geneva as Special Representative for Science Diplomacy in June 2021.

Alexandre Fasel appointed new State Secretary in the FDFA