President Keller-Sutter on visit to Zagreb
Bern, 16.09.2025 — On Tuesday 16 September, President Karin Keller-Sutter undertook a presidential visit to Croatia, where she met in Zagreb with President Zoran Milanović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Finance Minister Marko Primorac, Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Nataša Mikuš Žigman and Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković. Their discussions covered bilateral relations between Switzerland and Croatia alongside global and European security matters.
Ms Keller-Sutter and her Croatian hosts highlighted the good and wide-ranging ties between their nations, strengthened by Croatia’s 33,000-strong diaspora community in Switzerland. These bilateral bonds are being further reinforced through the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states, which has seen an agreement signed to upgrade water treatment facilities in the mountainous Gorski Kotar region.
The talks also addressed pan-European competitiveness, with Ms Keller-Sutter stressing the importance of investment-friendly conditions and open markets while outlining Switzerland’s next steps in the domestic policy process surrounding the Swiss–EU package. Once the consultation phase concludes at the end of October, officials will review the findings before finalising the dispatch.
The situation in the Western Balkans was also a key topic. Ms Keller-Sutter underscored Switzerland’s deep-rooted connections to the region, forged through substantial diaspora communities and long-standing cooperation programmes. She reaffirmed that sustainable peace and European integration prospects for the region’s countries remain central to Swiss foreign policy.
On Ukraine, both sides shared perspectives on the evolving conflict, the pursuit of a just peace, and reconstruction initiatives, including humanitarian mine clearance operations. The discussions extended to their joint presidency of the Global Alliance for the Missing and Switzerland’s agenda for its forthcoming chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2026. The situation in the Middle East and the mounting pressures on multilateral cooperation also featured prominently.