Joseph Deiss affirms the UN’s central role
Joseph Deiss affirms the UN’s central role
Switzerland was the 190th country to join the United Nations, despite being a key non-member since its inception. It has long enjoyed observer status but, today, it is far more than that. Since last year, the President of the United Nations General Assembly has been Swiss—the first to hold such a position.
Joseph Deiss continued the Swiss tradition of engagement with international publics during a visit to the Boston area on March 17, 2011. Before meeting with the swissnex Boston team, he engaged Tufts students at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy on “Reaffirming the Central Role of the United Nations in Global Governance.”
Just as former Permanent Representative to the UN Peter Maurer did at Tufts a year ago, Mr. Deiss stressed the need for global UN leadership. In a time of international crisis, he said the UN is the only international organization capable of gathering all political stakeholders and reaching legitimate consensus when solving a global issue.Mr. Deiss also presented the tasks of the UNGA President, such as coordinating the preparation of High-Level Meetings on topics like AIDS, where this year his role also involves opening the dialogue with civil society.
As the former President of the Swiss Confederation (2004) and former head of the Federal Departments of Foreign Affairs (1999-2002) and Economic Affairs (2003-06), Mr. Deiss then shared with the swissnex Boston team his vision of a strong Switzerland on the international scene. This, he said, would be determined by its willingness to participate actively in the debate within the framework of the main international organizations.
Mr. Deiss also discussed the growing role of new technologies in the daily operations of the UN, such as social media, and presented several UN initiatives in entrepreneurship.
Watch our interview of Mr. Joeph Deiss HERE!
