NATO has its headquarters in Brussels.
Keystone / Olivier Matthys
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is planning to open a liaison office in Geneva, Tamedia Group newspapers revealed this week. The project has already been approved by Bern.
Following an initial green light given by the Swiss government in September 2022, the foreign affairs ministry is already preparing to set up the liaison office, according to media reports. NATO, which has two similar offices in New York and Vienna, must now submit an official request to Switzerland.
The decision to open a new office in Geneva is explained by the alliance’s desire to deepen its exchanges with the United Nations and other international organisations, as it announced last July at its summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
David Sylvan, a Geneva Graduate Institute professor specialist in international relations and NATO, told Swiss public broadcaster RTSExternal link on Thursday that this is a way for the alliance to get physically closer to the large number of diplomats in International Geneva, but not only that.
“It’s one of many signs that NATO is now starting to refocus. And not just, as its name suggests, in the North Atlantic, but also in Africa and even Asia,” said the expert. In that sense, a presence in Geneva would make its task easier.
The political world is not unanimous about this arrival. Some are worried about the arrival of this military alliance, but according to Sylvan, the presence of NATO should not harm the image of neutrality in Geneva, where many NGOs are already working on security and demining issues. He also believes that International Geneva is not immune to the armed conflicts taking place in the rest of the world.
It now remains for the Swiss government to give its formal approval, once the official request has been submitted.
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