Bern, 12 April 2023
On 12 and 13 April 2023, the two national armaments directors of Finland and Switzerland will come together for a bilateral meeting. Talks will focus on the procurement strategy among other topics. The meeting will take place in Thun and Bern.
National armaments director Martin Sonderegger will receive his counterpart from Finland, Tarja Jaakkola, for bilateral talks. The meeting will take place on 12 April 2023 in Thun and on 13 April 2023 Bern. In addition to the national armaments director, the Head of the specialised service Aeronautical Systems, Vice Director and Head of the Air2030 Programme, Peter Winter, will also take part on the Swiss side.
While the delegation is visiting the competence domain armasuisse Science and Technology in Thun on Wednesday, the bilateral meeting will take place on Thursday, during which current topics such as the political situation in Europe will be discussed. In addition, the Swiss side will provide information on the status of the Air2030 Programme and the Joint F/A-18 Life Cycle Plan. The agenda also includes talks regarding other topics such as medium range ground-based air defence and the Leopard 2 Working Group.
The last bilateral meeting between Finland and Switzerland took place on 18 November 2021 in Helsinki. The goal was to maintain and strengthen good relations with Finland. Both the status of armaments cooperations and the further procedure for individual projects were discussed, and experiences and challenges in dealing with the procurement and use of complex military systems were shared. Information on future procurement projects and strategies was also reviewed.
Source – Swiss Government