Chronology of bilateral contacts

The Swiss Confederation recognized Ukraine's independence on December 23, 1991. Diplomatic relations were established on February 6, 1992 through an exchange of letters between the foreign ministers. The Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in Ukraine was opened in July 1992, and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Swiss Confederation in February 1993.

Since Ukraine’s Independence, relations in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, education, culture, humanitarian, law enforcement and military spheres etc. have expanded, necessary contractual basis for bilateral cooperation established.Switzerlandprovided significant financial and technical assistance to Ukraine within numerous projects.

The first official visit of President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma to the Swiss Confederation took place on March 22, 1996.

This event was preceded by a visit to Ukraine by the Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Flavio Cotti on January 15-16, 1996.

January 23-26, 1997. The first official visit to Switzerland of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Gennadi Udovenko.

In 1997, the first official visit to Ukraine of the Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of National Economy of Switzerland took place. The outcome of the high-level meetingwas, among other things, the signing of bilateral agreements on financial and technical cooperation.

The presidents of both countries met regularly during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (1993, 1999 and 2000).

October 29-30, 2000.Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Deiss paid an official visit to Ukraine.

March 18-19, 2003. A working visit ofthe Prime Minister of Ukraineto Switzerland. In the same year, the Vice-President of the Federal Council and the State Secretary for Economic Affairs also visited Ukraine, accompanied by Switzerland’s businessmen.

In January 2005, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko held a short protocol meeting with President of the Swiss Confederation Samuel Schmid at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

On June 22-25, 2005, Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs paid a working visit to Ukraine.

On May 14-15, 2009, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko paid an official visit to Switzerland.

On December 18, 2009, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko paid a working visit to Switzerland. In addition to official negotiations, he took part in the opening ceremony of the monument to Mykola Gogol in Vevey.

On February 25, 2010, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey took part in the inauguration of the President of Ukraine.

June 24, 2010. The Meeting of Minister forForeign Affairs of Ukraine Konstantin Gryshchenko and Federal President Doris Leuthard in Reykjavik (Iceland). A free trade agreement between Ukraine and the EFTA was signed.

April 9, 2011. President of the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey visited Kyiv as part of the events on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. In the same year, the Presidents of Ukraine and Switzerland met in Davos (January) and during the ordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (September).

In early 2014, the Prime Minister of Ukraine (January 24, Davos) and the President of Ukraine (February 7, Sochi) met with President of the Swiss Confederation, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter.

On April 14, 2014, Didier Burkhalter visited Ukraine as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, and on June 7, 2014, he took part in the inauguration ceremony of President Petro Poroshenko.

On January 22, 2016, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, as well as hold a short conversation with President of the Swiss National Council Christa Markwalder in the framework of WEF in Davos.

On January 17, 2017, on the sidelines of WEF in Davos, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with President of the Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications.

On February 27, 2017, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin met with Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs within the high-level segment of the 34th session of the UNHuman Rights Council in Geneva.

On June 5-7, 2017, Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter paid a working visit to Ukraine, where he was received by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, held talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and also visited the East of Ukraine (Mariupol).

On December 7, 2017, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin met with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairson the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Vienna.

On January 25, 2018, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs on the sidelines of WEF in Davos.

On January 24, 2019, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with President of the Swiss Confederation Ueli Maurer as part of the WEF in Davos programme.

On September 25, 2019, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko held a meeting with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs as part of the high-level segment of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

On January 22, 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga at the WEF in Davos.

On March 9, 2020, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov met with President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga as part of an official visit to the Swiss Confederation.

On March 25, 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga.

On May 6, 2020, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal had a telephone conversation with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

On May 15, 2020, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal held a telephone conversation with Vice President, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, Head of the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research of Switzerland.

July 20-23, 2020, the first state visit of the President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga to Ukraine in the history of bilateral diplomatic relations.

On July 21, 2020, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov and Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal met with President of Switzerland Simonetta Sommaruga as part of the state visit of the leader of the Swiss Confederation to Ukraine.

On March 30, 2021, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba had a telephone conversation with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

On July 7, 2021, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with Vice-president, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, on the sidelines of IV Ukraine Reform Conference in Vilnius.

On July 8, 2021, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba had meetings with Vice-president, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, on the sidelines of IV Ukraine Reform Conference in Vilnius.

On October 27-29, 2021, Vice-president, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, paid an official visit to Ukraine.

Telephone conversations between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on January 10, February 26 and April 30, 2022.

Telephone conversations between Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on March 10, April 12 and June 29, 2022.

On July 4-5, 2022, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal paid a working visit to Switzerland to participate in Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano.

On August 19, 2022, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal had a telephone conversation with President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis.

On October 19-21, 2022, President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis paid an official visit to Ukraine.

On January 17-18, 2023, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska met with President of Switzerland Alain Berset and Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the 53-rd WEF Annual Meeting in Davos.

On March 2, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with President of Switzerland Alain Berset.

On April 12, 2023, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal met Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the World Bank spring ministerial meeting in Washington D.C.

On June 1, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met President of Switzerland Alain Berset on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Chisinau.

 

Inter-parliamentary cooperation

Inter-parliamentary cooperation develops successfully and the exchange of visits of parliamentary delegations serves a good proof to that (1992-1993, 1997, 2001-2002, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2020-2022).

On June 7-9, 2011, the official visit of Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn to the Swiss Confederation took place.

On July 3-5, 2013, President of the Council of States of the Swiss Federal Assembly Filippo Lombardi paid an official visit to Ukraine.

On September 6-8, 2016, President of the National Council of the Swiss Federal Assembly Christa Markwalder visited Ukraine.

On March 9-10, 2020, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov paid an official visit to the Swiss Confederation. The delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine became the first foreign delegation received by the Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation of the 51st convocation.

On August 22-25, 2021, President of the National Council of the Swiss Federal Assembly Andreas Aebi visited Ukraine.

On April 26-28, 2022, President of the National Council of the Swiss Federal Assembly Irène Kälin together with Speaker of Sobranie of the Republic of North Macedonia Talat Xhaferi and Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament of Romania Florin Cîțu paid a visit of solidarity to Ukraine.

On July 4-5, 2022, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk paid a working visit to Switzerland to participate in Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano.

On October 25, 2022, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk had a meeting with President of the National Council of the Swiss Federal Assembly Irène Kälin on the sidelines of the First parliamentary summit of the International Crimea Platform in Zagreb, Croatia.

Interparliamentary friendship groups are established in the legislative bodies of both countries.