Ogi in Washington for defence talks
The Swiss president, Adolf Ogi, is in Washington for talks with the United States defence secretary, William Cohen. At the top of the agenda is Switzerland's intended purchase of more US-built F/A-18 fighter planes.
Ogi, who is also defence minister, is understood to be preparing the procurement of between eight and 11 American F/A-18 fighters, to add to Switzerland’s 36 such planes, already in service.
However, his meeting with Cohen will also focus on the situation in the Balkans, in particular to assess the vulnerability of Serbia’s sister republic, Montenegro.
On Thursday, Ogi is scheduled to visit two prestigious military bases: the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, and the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to look at how troops are recruited and officers trained, said defence ministry spokesman Martin Bühler.
He told swissinfo the Swiss president will receive full military honours at a big parade at the Pentagon on Friday morning, before meeting Cohen for talks on international security – particularly in the Balkans.
Switzerland, which is not a member of Nato, is testing its first lightly-armed foreign deployment with the 150-strong Swisscoy battalion providing logistical support in Kosovo.
Ogi recently made it clear he would like to arm Swiss peacekeepers on foreign missions – something that would require a constitutional change – and insisted this would not conflict with the country’s traditional neutrality.
Bühler said Switzerland’s recent procurement of 36 FA-18 US-built fighter jets – the last batch arrived in December – and the Florako airspace air-defence system from US-French consortium Raytheon-Thomson were also on the agenda.
“Switzerland is an important purchaser of US arms. Ogi will also discuss how current projects are going,” he said
The Swiss president is also expected to try to enlist US support for a new Centre for Democratic Control of the Armed Forces, designed primarily for former Communist countries, which is due to open in Geneva later this year.
“We hope the United States will join the centre’s governing body or contribute funds to the centre, or both,” said Bühler.
It will be Ogi’s second official visit to the United States since he became defence minister in 1996. His first visit was in May 1997.
swissinfo with agencies
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