Partnership for Peace comprises topics that involve competencies that concern more than one federal department. Therefore, Switzerland’s activities are controlled jointly by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Federal Department of defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS). Several partners also give support to Switzerland’s participation in the Partnership for Peace programme.

Bodies have been established to coordinate Swiss policy with the Partnership for Peace programme. These bodies include representatives from all authorities concerned with the partnership. An interdepartmental coordination committee under the lead of the DDPS sets the guidelines for Swiss participation in the Partnership for Peace programme, while an interdepartmental office coordinates their practical implementation and current activities.

FDFA and DDPS

The FDFA is mainly concerned with topics requiring civilian expertise, e.g. strengthening international humanitarian law, the reform and democratic control of the security sector, cooperation relating to security risks and counterterrorism as well as issues relating to civilian emergency planning, which is supervised by the SDC’s Humanitarian Aid unit.

The DDPS focuses mainly on the improvement of capabilities relating to military cooperation (interoperability) and the exchange of military expertise with other PfP states.

The Swiss Mission

The Swiss NATO Mission has been representing the interests of Switzerland since 1997 on location at Headquarters in Brussels. For this the mission is in direct contact with representatives of NATO and the other countries.

Switzerland supports specific projects and offers annual courses open to participants from PfP states. The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed forces (DCAF) and the Geneva International Centre for humanitarian Demining (GICHD) play an important role in this context.