Deiss meets Powell in Washington
The Swiss foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, has concluded talks with the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell in Washington, on Monday. Deiss also handed over a letter from the Swiss president, Moritz Leuenberger, containing an appeal to US president George W Bush, to reconsider his rejection of the Kyoto protocol on climatic change.
The meeting between Deiss and Powell is the first between a member of the Swiss government and the Bush administration.
The Kyoto agreement, on controlling the emissions of greenhouse gases, which cause global warming, dominated the talks between the two men.
The Swiss foreign minister said on his departure from the State Department, in Washington, that Switzerland shared the European Union’s position on the agreement.
However, two issues that could have potentially strained Swiss-American relations, were not touched upon, during the meeting: the case of the fugitive commodity trader, Marc Rich, and that of the former Kremlin aide, Pavel Borodin.
Rich was given a last-minute pardon by the former US president, Bill Clinton, before leaving the White House in January. The pardon sparked a congressional investigation in Washington.
Borodin on the other hand, was extradited on Saturday, to Switzerland, to face charges of money laundering by Geneva prosecutors.
The meeting came at a time of improved bilateral relations between the two countries, following the signing of a $1.25 billion (SFr2.11 billion) settlement between Swiss banks and the World Jewish Congress over Holocaust-era assets.
The accord, which was signed in 1998, brought to an end three years of difficult negotiations and was intended to settle the claims of Holocaust survivors who held assets in Switzerland during the Second World War.
The settlement also ended all claims against the Swiss National Bank and all other Swiss commercial banks.
Deiss’s visit coincided with strengthening economic ties with the US. Swiss exports in 1999 rose by 18.8 per cent in value terms to a record SFr14.7 billion; imports were virtually unchanged at SFr7.7 billion
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