OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2010. Head of the Federal Department (Minister) of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Micheline Calmy-Rey paid a brief working visit to Moscow.

Both sides reaffirmed their high assessment of the state of, and prospects for Russian-Swiss cooperation, to which a powerful impetus was given by the first state visit of a President of Russia to Switzerland in September 2009. The Ministers approved a schedule of political consultations between the foreign affairs agencies of Russia and Switzerland in 2010, covering a wide range of bilateral and international themes, and agreed on concrete steps to expand the juridical base of relations.

During the talks, considerable attention was devoted to international issues. Given Switzerland’s current chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, an in-depth exchange of views took place on major aspects of the activity of this organization, including its overdue reform. Both sides underlined the importance of further improving the work of the European Court of Human Rights, including in light of the process of ratification by Russia of Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Also discussed were the possibilities of further cooperation between Russia and Switzerland in international organizations, notably in the UN, along with the prospects for resolving a number of regional conflicts and the situation around the Iranian nuclear program.

Mutual satisfaction was expressed with the level of cooperation in questions of the representation by Switzerland of the interests of the Russian Federation in its relations with Georgia. A number of practical issues of this work were touched on. Micheline Calmy-Rey shared her assessments of her visit to Tbilisi recently.