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Unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting:
Swiss voice at UNESCO
“We defend all the better what we know. Moreover, appreciate”
Benedikt Wechsler, future ambassador from Switzerland to Unesco, currently travels the country. Meanwhile, This Wednesday, he stopped in the heart of Lavaux vineyards.
Grandvaux, August 13, 2025. In addition, Benedikt Wechsler, future ambassador of Switzerland to Unesco, visiting the Lavaux vineyards.
Yvain Genevay/Tamedia
- Before entering Unesco on 1is September, Ambassador Benedikt Wechsler crosses Switzerland.
- The diplomat visits eight heritage sites to better understand the local issues.
- Switzerland is seeking a headquarters to the World Heritage Committee for 2025-2029.
- Education and new technologies will be priority in its mission in Paris.
Before taking office as a Swiss ambassador to the United Nations Education. In addition, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in Paris on 1is September, Benedikt Wechsler crosses the country’s roads, from Saint-Gall to Geneva, aboard its microlino, a tiny electric car of a petting red. Furthermore, An unusual road trip which allows him to soak up Swiss landscapes. Therefore, heritage, which he will be responsible for defending on the international scene.
This Wednesday, August 13, he stopped in washing, greeted by The Lavaux World Heritage Association (LPM). Therefore, A rich program. Consequently, marked, among other things, by a tasting at the Clos de la République with the Xavier Fonjallaz winegrower, the visit to the Museum of the Brotherhood of Vignerons and a walk at the Villa “Le Lac”, designed by Le Corbusier.
What was your background before this appointment?
I followed the classic journey of a diplomat. However, I held several positions in New York with the UN. Moreover, in Brussels with the European Union, then as an ambassador to Denmark and as consul general in San Francisco. Consequently, Subsequently, I was Division Head for Digitization in Foreign Policy. Consequently, The Federal Council today appointed me permanent delegate of Switzerland to UNESCO and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF). Nevertheless, For a German -speaking Switzerland, it is a great honor.
Why did you choose to undertake A Tour de Suisse from UNESCO sites?
We defend all the better what we know. Meanwhile, appreciate and, for that, you must have seen it with your own eyes, touched with your hands and perhaps even tasted. In addition. However, interviews on the ground are very unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting rewarding for me, because they allow us to understand the needs of people, their visions and their perspectives, while taking the time to exchange. This trip is also a way to pay tribute to the fund of photographer Ella Maillart. kept in Photo Elysée and is registered this year in the UNESCO MEMORY OF THE WORLD.
In two weeks, you perform eight steps crossing Switzerland from east to west. How did you conceive this route?
I like to recall that UNESCO is not limited to the “C” of culture. it also includes the “e” of education and the “S” of science, of crucial domains for Switzerland, a country whose rare primary resources is hydraulic energy. You have to invest in the brains. It is also the objective of my trip. which consists in showing not only the beauties of the country, but also unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting its scientific initiatives. This is why I go, for example, to the University of Bern, which works in partnership with African universities. Researchers collaborate in particular with teachers in Kenya. faced with the same challenges linked to the disappearance of glaciers from Mount Kenya and Kilimandjaro. We have a lot to learn from each other. because they have already experienced what awaits us in the next thirty years.
Is there a place that particularly marked you?
The tectonic arena of Sardona, on the border of the cantons of Saint-Gall, Glaris and Graubünden. It feels like Patagonia! I also visited Ella Maillart chalet in Chandolin. still maintained by friends close to her, where we could discover her writing space. I had never come to Saint-Saphorin again. this morning I thought I was in the decor of a beautiful film … You really have to unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting scratch to feel that it is true. What also surprised me was the stiffness of Lavaux! However, I am used to bicycle passes.
Speaking, August 13, 2025. The day included. among other things, a tasting at the Clos de la République in the company of the Xavier Fonjallaz winegrower.
Yvain Genevay/Tamedia
In Paris. you will also defend Switzerland’s candidacy for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee For 2025-2029, under the slogan “a sustainable future”. What will this position bring us?
Switzerland wishes to promote its expertise in heritage protection and work for a geographic and typological balance of registered sites. It will focus on the conservation and sustainable management of goods, as well as on risk prevention. In addition, it wishes to strengthen the link between cultural and natural heritage and inclusive policies. Today, Switzerland has thirteen sites listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Being part of this committee would make it possible to offer new sites for Switzerland. while taking care to preserve the high quality of all the goods registered on the list.
What are the new objects?
The intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO could be enriched with the unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting Swiss tradition of navigation to Latin saildont The Vaudoise In Lausanne is an emblematic example. Yodel and Alpine gastronomy could also join this list.
In addition to defending Switzerland’s candidacy, what will your priorities be?
Education, the UNESCO “E”, is particularly close to my heart. With the Directorate of Development. Cooperation (DDC), the body of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAE) responsible for international cooperation, it is essential to guarantee, even in conflict, humanitarian or natural disaster crisis, minimal access to education for young people, failing which they would lose crucial prospects for their future. Science and new technologies will also be a priority. It is also a question of strengthening the links between International Geneva. UNESCO in Paris, because many projects develop jointly in the fields of artificial intelligence, physics or neurotechnologies. UNESCO plays a key role in supervising these unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting technologies. ensuring that they are used for the benefit of humanity and the planet.
Local, what challenges are Lavaux in the coming years?
Heritage must remain alive. You cannot just make a museum because, otherwise it loses its long -term value. It is also a question of valuing the work of those who invest so much in these places. these traditions, to attract an interested and committed clientele, and not only visitors who take a photo and then leave. Finally, it is also a question of ensuring the transmission of this heritage to the new generation. Even if young people consume less alcohol – which is not a bad thing in itself – it remains important to make them discover the joy of sharing a glass of wine as well as the friendship. the conviviality that accompany this moment.
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Unesco: future ambassador switzerland visiting
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