13 to 15 September 2016

​On 13 September, the President of the National Council, Christa Markwalder, officially welcomed a parliamentary delegation led by the President of the Norwegian Parliament, Olemic Thommessen, at the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf. This official working visit was made in response to a delegation visit made by the former President of the National Council, Ruedi Lustenberger, to Denmark and Norway. The President of the Norwegian Parliament was accompanied by the Vice-President of the Norwegian Parliament, Svein Roald Hansen, members of parliament Marianne Aasen and Margunn Ebbesen and several members of the Norwegian parliamentary services.

During its official working visit to Switzerland, the Norwegian delegation was able to find out more about opportunities for closer interparliamentary cooperation, which has grown in importance in recent years as a result of the increasing internationalisation of politics and law, and to raise the issue of the effects of such internationalisation on domestic political decision-making processes. Mr Thommessen, who has been head of Norway’s unicameral 169-member parliament since 8 October 2013, and Ms Markwalder share the view that interparliamentary cooperation is an important aspect of parliamentary business.

They also discussed the need to defend the common values that make peaceful coexistence in an open society like Switzerland and Norway possible. The constructive role played by both countries in mediating in international conflicts and in implementing peace processes was also a topic in a wide-ranging conversation. The talks also covered current developments in Europe, and in particular the effects of the British decision to leave the EU (Brexit), as well as migration and integration. Education, research and innovation were also discussed as were the numbers of women on the boards of listed Norwegian companies.

Following the official working meeting with the President of the National Council, Christa Markwalder, the members of the Norwegian Delegation met the President of the Council of States, Raphaël Comte and members of the EFTA/EU delegation. The programme also included courtesy visits to Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, the Deputy State Secretary at the FDFA, Alexandre Fasel, and the chief negotiator in talks with the EU, Jacques de Watteville. A visit to the Swiss Federal Art Collection and a meeting with the head of the Specialised Body for the International Transfer of Cultural Property at the Federal Office of Culture, which has been responsible for implementing the Cultural Property Transfer Act since 1 June 2005, rounded off their programme.

 

Bilateral relations between Switzerland and Norway

Norway and Switzerland enjoy excellent bilateral relations; the challenges they share related to European integration bring the two countries even closer together. Relations between these two founder members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) are strengthening in this context in particular.

Switzerland and Norway are also linked by their strong commitment to areas of human security. These include peace promotion, humanitarian policy and migration issues. They have close ties at a multilateral level both within international (e.g. the UN) and regional organisations, e.g. the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE).