MEM Summit 2024 - Keynote speech by federal councillor Ignazio Cassis

Stimata rettrice,
Stimata consigliera di Stato,
Onorevole municipale,
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Cari giovani participanti al MEM

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to my home town of Lugano.

I must say: it's good to be back home, after the last few weeks of intense diplomatic engagement, marked by several trips back and forth between Bern and New York.

Since January 2023, Switzerland has served for the first time as an elected member of the UN Security Council, with a term finishing at the end of this year. And last month, we held our second presidency of the Council.

After chairing the Council's Middle East debate last week in New York as president, I went to Montreal for a conference on the human dimension of the Ukraine war.

These multilateral discussions are taking place against a concerning global backdrop, with over 120 ongoing armed conflicts worldwide… So you may ask:
- Why are we having so many discussions, sitting in comfortable rooms when millions of people need humanitarian aid and protection?
- What do these diplomatic efforts tell us in such an alarming context?
Ladies and gentlemen

I firmly believe that we must maintain dialogue until the weapons have been silenced.

I will repeat it for as long as necessary: international law, particularly international humanitarian law, must be respected. We must continue to work together for peace, for security, for our common humanity.

We must work "for"… but above all "despite":
- Despite the escalating violence in the Middle East, the third winter of war in Ukraine, and the decades of violence in Yemen and Sudan.
- Despite the inability of the United Nations and multilateral forums to avoid the violence or put an end to it.
- Despite the worsening polarisation between standpoints I saw on my recent trips.
- And despite our own physical and emotional fatigue… Sometimes even our discouragement.

We must not give up!
"We", the government representatives in office, but also you, the future leaders of this world… A world we would like to see become a much better place, but which, despite all our efforts, is veering towards hatred and violence.

Let us forget the "despite"s and focus on the "for"s.

Dear Young Changemakers,

Over the past few days here in Lugano, you have been discussing the state of the world, especially the situation in the Middle East, with the aim of bringing new ideas to the discussion, for the benefit of the most vulnerable people in the region.

At the same time, what you have experienced as a simulation of a mediation process is, for Qatar, Egypt and the US, a hard daily reality.

And what about Switzerland?
Switzerland has been representing US interests in Iran since 1980. The protecting power mandate did and can support de-escalation in the region.

Alongside the Israelis, the Palestinians and the countries of the region, Switzerland is ready to play its part in the difficult but essential peace process.

I firmly believe that peace and security in the Middle East can only be achieved through political means, and the two-state solution remains the only practical path to lasting peace.
This is the reason why Switzerland participated in the launch in New York and in the first follow-up meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in Riyadh last week.

Switzerland has proposed a cluster on youth and reconciliation. With the MEM-experience, we have the ideal platform for that.
With its seven editions, the MEM Summit has proven its capacity to bring people together, foster dialogue and the exchange of ideas, form lasting networks, and encourage reconciliation within the next generation.

Your ability to mobilise, to imagine new possibilities, and to build bridges where others see only walls - in fact despite the walls - this is what we all need. You are not just the leaders of tomorrow; you are the catalysts for change today.

Ladies and gentlemen

Last year, I called on the young participants - your predecessors here - to challenge their ideas and to learn to disagree.

Today, I encourage you to embrace a dialogue with open minds, to listen carefully to one another, and to approach each conversation with a willingness to compromise.

Thank you.