On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, Switzerland’s government announced that it will host a high-level international conference to help chart a path toward peace in Ukraine.
“There is currently sufficient international support for a high-level conference to launch the peace process,” the Federal Council said in a statement.
The conference will be held on June 15-16, 2024 at the Bürgenstock resort in the canton of Nidwalden outside the city of Lucerne.
It will aim to create a framework favourable to a comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine as well as “a concrete roadmap for Russia’s participation in the peace process.”
It’s expected to draw top government officials from dozens of countries, following on a plan laid out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in recent months.
“The first country that we spoke with, after Ukraine of course, was Russia, because a peace process cannot happen without Russia, even if it won’t be there for the first meeting” Cassis told reporters Wednesday in the Swiss capital, Bern.
It was reported that U.S. President Joe Biden could attend. He is expected to be in Italy during that time for the G7 leaders meeting, though the White House has not said whether he would attend the Swiss conference.
The Swiss government said early talks toward arranging the conference involved the European Union and envoys from the so-called Global South, including Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
“At its meeting today, the Federal Council took note of the results to date and discussed the next steps. There is currently sufficient international support for a high-level conference to launch the peace process,” the federal government in Bern said in a statement.
It acknowledged “some unknowns” leading up to the conference, “but in view of Switzerland’s long-standing diplomatic tradition and the encouraging feedback received during the exploratory phase, it considers it its responsibility to contribute to the peace process in Ukraine.”
Much of the diplomatic uncertainty has centered on whether key Russia ally China might attend — and Cassis pressed for Beijing’s support for Switzerland’s ambitions during a trip to the Chinese capital last month.
China’s Foreign Ministry has said that Beijing supports a conference that’s accepted by both Russia and Ukraine, which isn’t the case so far.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned last week that prospective negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine could be successful only if they take Moscow’s interests into account, dismissing a planned round of peace talks as a Western ruse to rally broader international support for Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that there will be no peace in Ukraine until Russia’s goals are met.
Conference Better Than Nothing
Swiss President, Viola Amherd said there was no guarantee June’s initiative would be a success and that it would not immediately yield a peace deal.
“The alternative would be to do nothing, and that would be irresponsible for the stability of Europe and also for Switzerland,” she told a press conference.
She added, “We will not sign a peace plan at this conference. We think there will be a second conference, but we want to start the process with this one.”
Ukrainian and Swiss authorities have said that dozens of countries have been consulted as part of diplomatic efforts around the proposed conference.
In a telephone call, Zelenskiy and Amherd agreed to attract as many countries as possible to take part in the summit, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Wednesday.
Swiss Foreign Minister, Ignazio Cassis said formal invitations to take part in the conference would be issued to more than 100 countries this week.
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