Roberto Balzaretti, currently director (with title of ambassador) of the Directorate of International Law and legal adviser of the FDFA in Bern, will assume the post of director of the Directorate for European Affairs (DEA) in Bern on 1 February 2018. The DEA is in charge of European policy within the Federal Administration and will in future play a stronger coordinating role in view of the growing and increasingly urgent requirements in that area. Also from 1 February, Mr Balzaretti will take over responsibility for coordinating negotiations with the European Union from State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl, who remains in charge of the other areas of responsibility of the FDFA.
The Federal Council has conferred the title of State Secretary on Mr Balzaretti for the duration of his term of office. The former director of the DEA, Ambassador Henri Gétaz, has been appointed Secretary-General of EFTA and will remain in the FDFA in an advisory capacity until he takes up his new post on 1 September 2018.
Lukas Gasser, currently head of mission in Yerevan, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Republic of Iraq, based in Amman.
Lukas Rosenkranz, currently deputy head of the FDFA Internal Audit office in Bern, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.
Alexander Hoffet, currently head of post in Shanghai, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Slovak Republic.
Arno Wicki, currently deputy head of mission in Santiago de Chile, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Chile.
Emilija Georgieva Regamey, currently deputy head of mission in Singapore, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Croatia.
Georg Steiner, currently head (with title of ambassador) of the Crisis Management Centre of the FDFA State Secretariat in Bern, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Niger and the Republic of Chad, and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Economic Community of West African States, based in Abuja.
Patric Franzen, currently deputy head of mission in Moscow, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Georgia.
Pietro Piffaretti, currently head of the Sectoral Policies Section of the Swiss mission to the European Union in Brussels, will become the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Principality of Liechtenstein, based in Bern. At the same time, the FDFA has appointed Mr Piffaretti as head of cross-border cooperation at the Directorate of Political Affairs in Bern. The Federal Council has conferred upon him the title of ambassador for this function.
Caroline Bichet-Anthamatten, currently second deputy head of mission at the Swiss mission to the European Union in Brussels, will become assistant director and head of the Division for Political Affairs of the DEA in Bern. The Federal Council has conferred upon her the title of ambassador for this new function.
Address for enquiries:
FDFA Information
Tel. +41 58 462 31 53
info@eda.admin.ch
