The Ambassador: Markus Leitner

Lucy Kenningham | 1st February 2022 | Brussels, Diplomacy, Embassy News
Screenshot 2022-02-01 at 15.13.23

The Swiss Ambassador on how regular referenda and a devolved government embeds Switzerland's politics with accountability and rooted decisionmaking

Markus Leitner was appointed Swiss ambassador to the United Kingdom in August 2021. He has worked in South Africa and Chile and is a former ambassador to Iran and Egypt. Interview by Lucy Kenningham. Can you pinpoint a highlight of your career so far? I’ve been lucky in the timings of my placements. I was in South Africa during Thabo Mbeki’s presidency. It was an optimistic period:  Nelson Mandela was still alive, prices for resource exports were high. It was the same in Chile – the copper price was high and the country was thriving.  Egypt, though, was a different story. I handed my letter of credentials to President Morsi who was in prison two weeks later. It was a dramatic and drastic start, and a very uncertain time.  I started in Iran at the same time as the new American president (Trump) took the US out of the nuclear agreement, changing things dramatically. It was an extremely challenging yet interesting few years.  Perhaps the real highlight is still to come? I’ve already had o...

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