Ogi urges greater Swiss role in international peacekeeping
Switzerland's president and defence minister, Adolf Ogi, has called for greater Swiss involvement in international peacekeeping operations.
Switzerland's president and defence minister, Adolf Ogi, has called for greater Swiss involvement in international peacekeeping operations. Ogi told a meeting of Nato partner countries in Montreux that international cooperation was a pillar of Switzerland's security policy.
Ogi said that no country can tackle security in isolation and that cooperation in international peacekeeping missions was clearly the way forward. He said that Swiss troops should be allowed to carry weapons for self-defence in order to perform peacekeeping duties effectively.
Armed military service abroad is banned under the Swiss constitution.
The conference, which ends on Saturday, is organised jointly by the Swiss parliament and the Nato Parliamentary Assembly, an independent advisory body.
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