Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis to visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan
Bern, 31.07.2026 — Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis will visit Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan from 3 to 5 August 2026. The head of the FDFA will hold official talks with the authorities of both countries at which he will particularly address bilateral relations. In his capacity as chairman-in-office of the OSCE he will also discuss the priorities of the Swiss chairpersonship in the current geopolitical context.
On 4 August Mr Cassis will meet President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku. The talks will cover bilateral relations, the situation in the South Caucasus, and the peace dynamics between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
In Ashgabat on 5 August Mr Cassis will meet President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov. Discussions will centre around relations between Switzerland and Turkmenistan as well as the role of the OSCE in Central Asia. Finally, in his capacity as chairman-in-office of the OSCE, Mr Cassis will visit the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, as well as the State Energy Institute of Turkmenistan, with which the Centre partners.
These two trips mark the first round of visits to the region by Mr Cassis in 2026. The federal councillor and OSCE chairman-in-office will travel to Armenia and Georgia in the autumn.
Links:
Swiss chairpersonship of the OSCE for 2026
Bilateral relations Switzerland–Azerbaijan
Bilateral relations Switzerland–Turkmenistan