Switzerland wants Delhi to participate in the peace conference on Ukraine because of India’s global standing and as the leader of the Global South, its top diplomat said on Friday.
And in the second summit, Russia would be invited and the hope is that Russia would be a part of it.
There is an expectation, an international expectation for India to participate and that expectation is rooted in the international standing of India.
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Switzerland wants Delhi to participate in the peace conference on Ukraine because of India’s global standing and as the leader of the Global South, its top diplomat said on Friday. In an interview to SHUBHAJIT ROY, State Secretary of Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Fasel said he hopes Russia would participate in the second summit, and the peace conference in Switzerland will discuss the roadmap. New Delhi is yet to decide on the participation in the event. Fasel said Switzerland understands that the decision will be taken after the election results on June 4. He expressed confidence about an ambitious Indo-Swiss cooperation, filled with opportunities, as the free trade pact was signed in March this year. Edited excerpts:
My visit to India is to come and see my counterpart (MEA) secretary Pavan Kapoor to explore with him where we stand in the preparation of the peace conference on Ukraine that we will host on June 15 and 16. We are now in the build-up to this conference. And it is important for us to share with important players, where we stand, what we aim for, and why we count on their participation and support.
What’s the objective behind the conference?
(About) this conference, I always need to do expectation management. It’s called the Peace Conference. But of course, it’s not the moment where a peace agreement will be agreed on or indeed, signed. We have to look at it more in terms of the logic of the process. It is a moment in a process that must lead to a proper peace process, which will open the field towards a negotiated settlement. But for that to happen, we need to prepare the ground as it were, we need to agree on the framework of what that peace process could look like. And we need to work on a roadmap. We need to imagine how and when will it be able to bring the warring parties to one table in order to have proper conversations either directly or through intermediaries. So it’s about the process. It is about framework. It is about a roadmap. I think the success of the conference is that the conference is happening. That is in itself a defining moment, which must open the field towards further steps that need to be taken.
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You talked about warring parties, what about Russia’s participation?
Even before the invitations were sent out, Russia repeatedly said it would not attend this conference. So Russia will not be present. But the idea is that after the first summit, there will be a second summit, there will be something after that, and that is the moment when participation of Russia should be happening. That is the vision that we go from this process towards a process where both parties can be present… You cannot imagine a peace negotiation without all the actors in the room. So that’s where we aim to, and that’s what we are looking to do.
Many would be sceptical about the process when Russia is not present. How would you counter those concerns?
My answer would be that we are in a very unorthodox situation, if you look at it in categories of conflict transformation and peace promotion. For parties to come together, they both have already formed the conviction that they have no other alternative than to do that. They have no alternative anymore to fight on also. There are a lot of criteria to be fulfilled, so that warring parties come to the table. We are not there yet in that conflict. Yet we cannot leave the space open and not occupy the space which stands for peace. So that is what we’re trying to do, occupy the space of peace and fill it with content based in international law, based in the Charter of the United Nations, so that that is then the basis on which the parties, when the time is ripe, can discuss their divergences.
Is there a formula that is being looked at?
The one element is that it has been said there is this first summit and then there will be a second summit. And in the second summit, Russia would be invited and the hope is that Russia would be a part of it. But the way we need to travel from the first summit to the second summit is not clearly defined yet. And that is part of the discussion. So… the conference needs to design the process to make clear what the framework is, to make clear what the roadmap is.
The Chinese have presented a formula. Would you be looking at that as well?
As I say, and I can quote from the invitation letter, the president of the Swiss Confederation sent out (the invite) to 160 heads of state and the head of government. And she says the summit will build up the discussions that have taken place in recent months, notably the Ukrainian peace formula, and other peace proposals based on the UN Charter and key principles of international law. And all the peace proposals that have been entered have this quality. And you’ll see many commonalities in them. So yes, the discussion is a broad one. What we will do in the conference is try to focus on a subset of questions that lend themselves to a serious discussion. Even among the warring parties, we call that strategic disengagement. Are there questions that can be taken out of the conflict and be treated by the parties in good faith without foregoing their individual war objectives? Questions that need to be dealt with now such as food security, freedom of navigation, humanitarian aspect, exchange of prisoners of war…
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You said that invitations have been sent to 160 countries, do you know how many are attending so far?
Not yet. Replies are flowing in regularly, we are now around 60-mark also from all regions of the world, but the deadline is not over, that is on the 24th of May, I think, and countries such as India have already told us that they will not be in a position to respect that deadline. In India, the question is the one of the elections. So, I do not expect India to determine the question of participation before that moment. We certainly wish to have the major countries of what we call nowadays the Global South such as India.
What are the expectations from India?
There is an expectation, an international expectation for India to participate and that expectation is rooted in the international standing of India. India as a friend of the world, country that is friendly with everyone, as a leader of the Global South, India as a country that has diplomatic clout, expertise, knowledge, as you have seen exemplified in the G20 presidency and also the role played there to bring in the voice of the Global South into the G20. So, India is a very important player and many countries and indeed the international community is looking towards India, expecting it to come in and to help contribute so that this process can be brought into a logic of negotiated settlement.
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Is there a specific element that you want India to take the lead on?
That needs to be discussed. We are now working on those different questions that would India want to take the lead in one of those questions or contribute to one of those. That’s very much open to conversation.
What about China’s participation?
They too haven’t committed yet. They are observing, verifying their options, consulting very largely, I see them travelling around the world. So there again, expectations are that they will come as well.
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What about the US?
Exactly the same, they haven’t committed yet, but there is an expectation. Also, as you know, just before the summit, there will be the G7 Summit in Italy. So from the calendar and logistics wise, it would lend itself very well for countries who come from further afield that they could indeed combine the two.
Read Also | India and Ukraine talk war and peace; summit in Switzerland on table as well
Away from the peace conference, how do you see the bilateral ties between India and Switzerland after the free trade pact signed recently?
A huge open field full of opportunities. But we’re not starting from zero and we’re starting from a very, very solid basis, based on these 75 years of friendship and cooperation we have had. And now with that free trade agreement, we throw open a wide field of possibility. It is a very modern trade agreement and for the first time, I think, in the history of free trade agreements worldwide, we have a chapter on job creation and investment. So, we really are there in uncharted waters. We are really trying to achieve something which will further drive and solidify the cooperation between Switzerland and India in trying to achieve those very ambitious objectives we have set ourselves in the agreement. So yes, a very stimulating, ambitious programme ahead of us.
