Extended UN Geneva headquarters open for business

Ignazio Cassis and the UN's Tatiana Valovaya at the ceremony to inaugurate the new H Building at the Palais des Nations. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis officially opened the new extension to the Palais des Nations – home to the United Nations offices in Geneva.

The new “H Building” took five years to build and is part of an CHF830 million ($905 million) renovation of the whole UN structure, half funded by a CHF400 million interest free loan from Switzerland.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony on Monday, Cassis reiterated the importance of the UN presence to International Geneva – the collection of NGOs and global organisations that have been present in the region for many years.

“When we laid the building’s cornerstone in 2016, our aim was to provide a suitable setting for sustainable and forward-looking multilateral diplomacy. And we have succeeded,” Cassis saidExternal link.

Work on the historic section of the Palais des Nations is scheduled to continue until 2024.

The Director General of the UN at Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya, Geneva’s President Serge Dal Busco and Nathalie Fontanet, representing International GenevaExternal link, were also present at the opening ceremony.

At the same event, Cassis opened the eighth edition of the Geneva Peace Week, which focuses on four themes: the transformation of conflicts caused by climate change; inclusion and the fight against inequalities as instruments of peace; responding better to security risks; and using new technologies to promote peace.