State visit by Italian president Giorgio Napolitano from 20 to 21 May 2014
Bern, 13.05.2014 - The president of the Italian Republic, Mr Giorgio Napolitano, will make a state visit to Switzerland at the invitation of the Federal Council from 20 to 21 May 2014. The minister of foreign affairs, Ms Federica Mogherini, will also be part of the Italian delegation. The official meetings will essentially concern bilateral relations, in particular cooperation with regard to the economy and taxation, as well as various topical international issues. Opportunities for working together with Italy, which will assume the EU presidency in the second half of 2014, will also be a topic for discussion. After spending the first day of the visit in Bern, the president of the Swiss Confederation, Mr Didier Burkhalter, and his guest will travel to Ticino.
The Italian president's state visit to Switzerland will be an opportunity to highlight the quality and closeness of bilateral relations and encourage even more intensive cooperation between the two countries. The president of the Italian Republic will be received by the entire Federal Council with military honours which will take place on Tuesday morning on the Münsterplatz in Bern.
The official meetings will be led by the president of the Swiss Confederation and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Didier Burkhalter, and by the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano. Federal councillors Doris Leuthard, head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC), Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), and Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) are also scheduled to take part. The first day of the state visit will end with a gala dinner.
On 21 May, Mr Burkhalter and Mr Napolitano will travel to Lugano in the company of their delegations, where they will be received by the Ticino Cantonal Council.
Switzerland and Italy have long maintained regular contact at all levels. The last state visit of an Italian president to Switzerland, Mr Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, took place in May 2003. During a working visit in January this year, the Italian minister for economic affairs and finance at the time, Fabrizio Saccomanni, met the head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF), Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, to launch the second forum for dialogue between Switzerland and Italy in the company of the president of the Swiss Confederation, Didier Burkhalter.
Some 500,000 Italian citizens live in Switzerland; an important human tie between the two countries. In 2013, there were just over 50,000 Swiss nationals living in Italy. Italy is Switzerland's third biggest trading partner, after Germany and the United States.
Address for enquiries
FDFA Information
Jean-Marc Crevoisier
head of FDFA Information
079 / 763 84 10
Publisher
The Federal Council
https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html
Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch