Swiss host 2002 International Conference on Federalism
From 27-30 August, 500 decision makers from the world of politics, science, economics and other spheres are in the town of St Gallen to discuss federalism.
Switzerland is hosting the 2002 International Conference on Federalism, and swissinfo will be covering the meeting in depth.
The conference is a joint project between the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss cantonal governments, who consider Switzerland – one of the oldest federal states in the world – an ideal place for an international forum on the topic.
Switzerland has been a federal state since 1848 and is widely regarded to have successfully combined linguistic, cultural and religious diversity under its own federal system.
This conference follows on from the first International Conference on Federalism, which took place in Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada, in October 1999.
The topics under discussion this year are foreign relations, decentralisation and conflict management in multicultural societies, responsibilities in a federal system, and fiscal and taxation issues.
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