7. Multilateralism Besides Switzerland’s commitment in various parts of the world, cooperation in multilateral institutions is essential to address global challenges, such as climate change, terrorism, poverty, economic crises and violent conflicts. Thanks to multilateral cooperation, the international community has successfully adopted key instruments in recent years, such as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. For a country like Switzerland, active partnership with and participation in international organisations is indispensable. Since the end of the Second World War, the international community has set up a multilateral system with institutions for many different areas: regional alliances dealing with values, economic and security affairs, such as the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE; financial, economic and development organisations, such as the Bretton Woods Institutions; and – the only organisation with universal competence and a global membership – the United Nations. For Switzerland as a medium-sized, highly globalised economy, participation in and cooperation with multilateral organisations is vitally important. Switzerland advocates agile and effective multilateralism, which is an efficient way of counteracting increased unilateralism. As head of a voting constituency in the Bretton Woods Institutions and as a member of the governing bodies of the regional development banks, Switzerland plays an active role in helping to shape the strategic, institutional and operational orientation of these organisations. As part of the International Monetary Fund, it contributes to the stability of the global monetary system and to cooperation on currencies and international payments as a precondition for sustainable and broad-based economic growth. Through the World Bank and the regional development banks, Switzerland also makes a contribution to alleviating poverty and increasing living standards in developing countries. As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is committed to securing a reliable multilateral trading system. Switzerland’s membership of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its close cooperation with the G20 forum for the most important industrialised and emerging nations also play a very important role. Switzerland has been invited by the Saudi Arabian G20 Presidency to attend the G20 summit as a guest in 2020, and will take part in the Finance Track for the fifth time in a row, and in the Sherpa Track for the first time (dealing with topics such as trade, the environment, education, health and tackling corruption). As a member of the governing bodies of the multilateral development banks, it plays an active role in helping to shape the strategic, institutional and operational orientation of these organisations. Taking into account its independence, Switzerland also maintains close ties with humanitarian actors, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is headquartered in Geneva. In the fight against impunity, Switzerland is committed to an effective International Criminal Court (ICC). The UN plays a key role in Switzerland’s foreign policy. For it to function effectively, reforms need to be implemented Photo: FDFA UN Headquarters in Geneva 31