Federal Councillor Calmy-Rey pays working visits to Ljubljana, Tbilisi and Moscow

Strasbourg, 12.01.2010 - Federal Councillor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey will travel to Ljubljana on Friday for a bilateral meeting with the Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar. On Saturday and Sunday she will hold talks in Tbilisi in her capacity as president of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. She will have a working meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Sunday.

The visit to Ljubljana is part of the regular bilateral meetings between Switzerland and Slovenia. In additional to bilateral cooperation (for example in connection with Switzerland's enlargement contribution to Slovenia), the agenda will include EU policies and cooperation within the UN. The talks will also cover the Council of Europe, in which Switzerland took over the presidency from Slovenia in November 2009.

In her capacity as chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Mrs Calmy-Rey will hold working talks with representatives of the Georgian authorities and political parties on Saturday and Sunday. The consequences of the Georgian conflict have been a high priority for the Council of Europe since the outbreak of hostilities in summer 2008.

On Sunday evening Mrs Calmy-Rey will meet the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a working dinner. Their talks will focus on current bilateral and international topics such as Switzerland's representation of Russian and of Georgian interests in the framework of its protective power mandates and questions relating to Switzerland's presidency of the Council of Europe.