More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic smote the world, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) hosted a lunch in Geneva for foreign correspondents where top officials offered support to journalists carrying out their craft.
Jürg Lauber, who heads the Swiss mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said society needs journalism, and it needs people in the profession who have a critical ability. He said following Switzerland’s decision to support EU sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the FDFA was working hard to explain that the country could remain neutral after taking its human rights stance. Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (APES) president, Jean Musy, said the association always appreciates the Swiss government’s support of the rights of journalists and access to information. Musy urged the FDFA to resume its investment and support for the mobility of foreign journalists in Switzerland by reinstating the issuance to APES members of half-tariff vouchers for Swiss Railways as it had done for more than 15 years but rescinded two years ago. Of the 32 journalists who signed up for the FDFA lunch, 30 were APES members.
November 14th – APES Presidential Lunch in Bern with Ignazio Cassis, President of the Swiss Confederation
Sept. – oct. – APES trip to Liechtenstein
Covered events
June 30th – APES Annual General Meeting in Geneva
June 29th – Thank You Party with Swiss Mission
June 22nd – International support of journalists for J. Assange at the Swiss Press Club
April 1st – DFAE Annual meeting with APES journalists (Geneva)
2021
CANCELLED – December 10th – DFAE Annual meeting with APES journalists (Geneva)
POSTPONED DUE TO COVID – December 9th – Annual General Meeting
November 17th – Tasting of great Swiss wines from Domaine Grand’Cour in Corne à vin (Geneva)
October 28th – Tribute concert to Pau Casals in Geneva in the presence of the Minister of External Action and Open Government of Catalonia
October 14th – APES Presidential Lunch in Bern with Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation
September 9th – Visit to Ballenberg Museum (BE)
2020
POSTPONED DUE TO COVID – December – Annual General Meeting
CANCELLED – October 27th – APES Presidential Lunch in Bern with Simonetta Sommaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation
CANCELLED – November 4th – Meeting with Swiss Banking Association (Geneva)
May 25th – Second APES Open Letter to WHO director-general Dr. Tedros
May 12th – APES Open Letter to WHO director-general Dr. Tedros
2019
December 11-12th – IATA’s Annual Global Media Days (Geneva)
December 4th – Annual General Meeting at Domaine de Penthes (Pregny-Chambésy / GE)
October 3rd – DFAE Annual meeting with APES journalists (Geneva)
September 19th – Federal elections : Meeting with candidates (Bern)
September 18th –Movie launch : Future of Journalism (APES production/2019)
September 18th –First Léman Lyrique Festival (Geneva)
September 9th –General of Einstein on the Beach Opera at Grand Théâtre (Geneva)
May 9th – Disaster Risk Reduction (visit in Martigny/VS)
March 11th to 13th – Carnival of Basel
February 26th to March 1st – Pierre-Michel Virot Photo Exhibition to celebrate 90 years of APES in UNI-Dufour (Geneva) Opening on Tuesday 27.02 at 6 P.M. and debate on Thursday 28.02 on the theme “What future for journalism?”
February 1st – Picasso Exhibition at Fondation Beyeler (Basel)
2018
December 12th – IATA yearly Press Conference (Geneva)
December 11th – Annual General Meeting at Domaine de Penthes (Pregny-Chambésy / GE)
December 05th – Yearly meeting with Swiss Banking Association (Geneva)
November 07th to 16th – Pierre-Michel Virot Photo Exhibition to celebrate 90 years of APES in UN “Salle des pas perdus” (Geneva)
November 05th – APES Press Conference and Presidential Lunch with President of the Confederation Alain Berset in Bern
September 19th to 20th – APES trip to Liechtenstein
August 21st – Visit to the The Cube of Philip Morris International in Neuchâtel
June 26th – Drone Innovators Network, day initiated by Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard at ETH Zürich
June 8th to 10th – Regatta of the “Bol d’Or Mirabaud” (Geneva)
May 30th – At the discovery of SolarStratos (Payerne)
March 27th – DFAE Annual meeting with accredited journalists (Geneva)
March 7th –Meeting of the Executive Committee of APES with Présence Suisse (Bern), with the Communication Service of the Presidency of the Federal Council and with the Service of GeneralAttorney of the Confederation
March 5th – Press Conference about APES Trip to Kosovo in Swiss Press Club (Geneva)
February 18th to 20th – Carnival of Basel
February 7th to 10th – APES trip to Kosovo
January 16th – World Economic Forum yearly Press Conference (Cologny/GE)
2017
December 18th – Press Conference about APES Trip to Vietnam in Swiss Press Club (Geneva)
December 07th – Yearly meeting with Swiss Banking Association (Geneva)
December 06th – Annual General Meeting at Domaine de Penthes (Pregny-Chambésy / GE)
November 26th to december 04th – APES travel to Vietnam and signature of a partnership agreement with the Association of Journalists of Vietnam
October 24th – 100 years of Suisse Tourisme in pictures at the Musée de l’Elysée and visit to Aquatis Park (Lausanne)
September 27th to 28th – Trip to Ticino
September 04th – APES Presidential Lunch in Bern with Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Confederation
August 26th to September 03rd – Feast of Unspunnen (Interlaken)
June 07th –Osiris exhibition at Rietberg Museum (Zürich)
May 31st – Press Conference about APES Trip to Turkey in Swiss Press Club (Geneva)
May 29th – Exclusive visit of the exhibition at the Reformation Museum in Geneva
May 1st to 07th – APES Trip to Turkey
April 06th – DFAE traditionnal Lunch (Geneva)
April 05th– APES / CSP meeting with Metin Arditi author of the Swiss Love Dictionary at the Swiss Press Club (Geneva)
March 15th – Executive APES Committee with Présence Suisse (Bern)
March 06-08th – Basel Carnival
February 2nd – Participation of the President of the APES in the Round Table of the Swiss Press Club on the theme: “Covering International Geneva : Occupation in peril or job for the future?” (Geneva)
January 23rd – Meeting with Jean Ziegler at Domaine de Penthes (Pregny-Chambésy / GE)
January 20th – Visit to the Beyeler Foundation (Basel) for its 20th anniversary and the Monet exhibition
January 10th – World Economic Forum yearly Press Conference (Cologny/GE)
January 10th – Chinese-Swiss Media Round table at Intercontinental Hotel (Geneva)
2016
December 16th –APES Annual General Meeting at the Domaine de Penthes (Pregny-Chambésy / GE), followed by a meeting with Titus Plattner and Alexandre Haederli, members of the Swiss Investigation Unit on “Panamean Papers”
December 8th – IATA Global Media Day (Geneva)
December 1st – Yearly meeting with Swiss Banking Association (Geneva)
The APES regrets to inform members of the death on Monday 7 March, 2022 in Cairo, Egypt, of our dear journalist colleague
Ms. Hedayat Abdel-Nabi.
From 1999-2010, she worked as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) covering the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva after working as an information officer for UNHCR.
APES is grateful to her for her commitment to the association as an account verifier (2001-2005) and served as a member of our Committee (2005 – 2007). We offer our deepest condolences to Hedaya’s family and loved ones.
∞∞∞∞
Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends of APES, We hope and wish that you are all in good health. And we hope you have a great holiday season over the Christmas and New Year period. All our Best Wishes for all of you in 2022 in your work and lives.
APES regrets to inform you of the death of our Indian colleague, Chakravarthi RAGHAVAN (1925– 2021), last September 26th, in Geneva.
He was a distinguished journalist, Honorary member of APES since 2007.
APES offers his family and loves ones our deep condolences.
∞∞∞∞
APES regrets to inform you of the death of Dr. iur. Peter C. Matt Ambassador of the Liechtenstein Mission UNOG (5.4.1966 – 8.3.2021) APES is grateful for the support he gave our association and offers his family and loved ones our deepest condolences.
∞∞∞∞
Media diversity and access during the COVID-19 era
APES Open Letter to UN Secretary-General ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
The APES leadership continued in 2020 to strive for a diverse foreign media with open access to information in Switzerland and at United Nations’ agencies. We continued engaging with Swiss and Geneva authorities to expedite the issuance of permits to APES members, scoring successes.
During 2020, APES President Jean Musy and Vice-President Peter Kenny met the Geneva Director of UN Information Services to express concern about the accreditation system for journalists to work in the Palais des Nations. We believe this favours big State-run media organizations and those affiliated with big business while discriminating against those working for small players.
To follow-up, we wrote to the UN Secretary General. On UN’s 75th anniversary he spoke out on the need for diversity in a speech on World Press Freedom Day, May 3.
COVID-19 arrived in early 2020, causing global havoc. It also impacted press freedom and media access to information. Some institutions manipulated media access. The World Health Organization started blind webinars for its bi-weekly press encounters, and APES launched a letter campaign to get the WHO to open-up. Its press webinars remain blind.
∞∞∞∞
We regret to announce that our colleague
Mrs Angelica ROGET,
an honorary member of APES, died at home on the evening of Sunday March 8. She was for many years the correspondent for Radio Vatican’s French-language programme. She also served as APES Secretary General from 1999 to 2003.
APES offers her family and loved ones our deepest condolences.
∞∞∞∞
JOURNALISM’S FUTURE
The only certainty from this debate is the uncertainty embedded in journalism’s future. It’s a profession considered noble by its practitioners, those who strive for freedom of expression and thought and the right of the public to know what goes on around them.
On its 90th Anniversary, the Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (APES) presents a succinct summary of a two-hour debate, condensed into 15 minutes. Each of the six speakers is a professional veteran and their key point is included with cogent arguments about their craft.
The debate was held at the University of Geneva on 28 February 2019 (APES org.), withChristian Campiche (Impressum/Switzerland), Jamil Chade (O Estado de Sao Paulo/Brazil), DanielCornu (Tamedia Romandie/Switzerland), Renske Heddema (Netherlands press), Peter Kenny (South African journalist and APES vice-president), Brij Khindaria (Business India/India) — and Moderator : Jean Musy (Radio Zones/France and APES president)
∞∞∞∞
APES regrets to inform you of the death of Mr Walter Emil BUSER (14.04.1926 – 17.08.2019) Former Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation (1981 – 1991) and an Honorary member of APES APES is grateful for the support he gave our association and offers his family and loved ones our deepest condolences.
∞∞∞∞
APES Presidential Lunch in Bern 2018 with Alain Berset President of Confederation
The Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (APES), founded in 1928, organizes every year since 1948 its traditional Presidential Dinner with the President of the Confederation. The opportunity to allow its journalists members to meet some fifty prestigious guests, spokespersons of the great bodies of the State to the leaders of the economy, the finance, politics, personalities of science, of culture and sport, which have marked the past year. In Bern, November 5, 2018, APES inaugurated with this event the cycle of celebrations of its 90th anniversary.
An APES production by Christian and Patricia Peschken.
∞∞∞∞
Partnership : APES receives Vietnamese Journalists’ Association
∞∞∞∞
Radio China International interviews APES President
APES President Jean Musy interviewed on March 19th 2018 by Radio China International about China’s situation following the election of Chinese President Xi Jingping
Listen to the interview in French :
Listen to the interview in Chinese :
∞∞∞∞
2018 APES trip to Kosovo
Geneva, March 5th 2018 – APES Press Conference at the Swiss Press Club on the trip of 6 journalists members in Kosovo, from 7 to 10 Feb. 2018
Mitrovica, feb. 9th 2018, APES journalists with Agim Bahtiri, Mayor of Mitrovica (center)
On the 10th anniversary of Kosovo’s independence, six APES journalists made a trip to Prishtina, Prizren, Gračanica and Mitrovica, from February 7th to 10th.
Prishtina, Feb. 9 2018. APES journalists received by Eugen Saraçini, director of Radio Television 21, one of the main independent TV stations in Kosovo.
Prishtina, Feb. 9 2018 . Xhavit Haliti, Vice-President of the Kosovo Assembly (Parliament) receives APES journalists
Prishtina, Feb. 7 2018. Jean Musy, President of APES, interviewed by Arbresh.info
∞∞∞∞
2017 APES Travel in Vietnam
Geneva, Dec. 18th 2017 – APES Press Conference at the Swiss Press Club in Geneva, on the trip of 7 journalists members in Vietnam, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4th 2017
Doris Leuthard says to APES journalists : “Switzerland is ready to mediate in North Korea crisis”
Swiss President Doris Leuthard answers questions from journalists of APES
Bern, Sept. 4 — Swiss President Doris Leuthard has said Switzerland is ready to act a mediator and use the special role it has carved out in international diplomacy to host talks to help solve the current crisis over North Korea. Leuthard was speaking at a press conference in the Swiss capital hosted by APES on September 5 and she asked if more sanctions are the answer to a missile crisis involving North Korea after its latest nuclear missile test. “We live now for many years with sanctions. It did not change many things. The population suffers for all these sanctions, but they stay with their government, with their president. So, I think, it is really time for dialogue. “We are ready to offer our good services now as a mediator,” she said noting that Switzerland has hosted peace talks on Syria and other conflicts. Leuthard said that in the upcoming weeks a lot would depend on how the United States and China can influence the crisis while she cautioned that it would be dangerous to have overactions. “It is really time now to sit at a table. The big powers have a reputation and a responsibility. Switzerland and Sweden can have a role behind the curtain” she observed saying they have done so before. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had spent some time as a high school student in Bern, but Leuthard could not say how this might influence any talks.
∞∞∞∞
2017 APES Presidential Luncheon with Swiss President Doris Leuthard
Swiss President Doris Leuthard with APES Committee in Schweizerhof Hotel (Bern 09.04.2017). From left to right : Emilia Nazarenko, Elizaveta Isakova, Peter Kenny, Rui Martins, Jean Musy, Doris Leuthard, Fatih Erel, Jennifer Freedman, He Nong, Luis Vasquez, Gunilla Von Hall
∞∞∞∞
APES in the Chinese Media about President Xi Jinping’s visit to Switzerland
January 11th : APES President Jean Musy on CCTV
January 20th : APES President interviewed by The Voice of China on Zheijang TV
January 21th : APES Vice-President Peter Kenny on CCTV
∞∞∞∞
Chinese and Swiss Media Round Table in Geneva : APES calls for more cultural exchanges
Jean Musy and Peter Kenny (left) responsible for APES (left) with Minister Jiang Jianguo (right), Director of the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva.
During the First Chinese and Swiss Media Roundtable, launched in Geneva on January 10th, during the state visit of President Xi Jinping to Switzerland, the President of the APES, Jean Musy, underlined before the Chinese Minister Jiang Jianguo, the need for journalists to “build bridges” between cultures. He said communication services are not convincing. “The public wants to know more and above all the truth . For our credibility, we must go, see and know,” he added.
He recalled the major role of the renowned Swiss reporter Fernand Gigon, the first to communicate about Communist China to the world. That was when Switzerland had just recognized the Mao regime, the first among Western nations, January 17 1950. Sixty seven years later, Musy said there is still too much misunderstanding. Only a good flow of independent information from the field can improve this, he said.
∞ 2017 ∞
Swiss Banking Association meets with APES
Claude-Alain Margelisch, SBA CEO during his annual meeting with the APES in Geneva
Yearly APES Presidential Lunch with the President of the Confederation
October, 27th – President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann with members of the APES Committee during the annual press conference and luncheon at the Schweizerhof in Bern.
∞∞∞∞
Solar Impulse : Technology for the environment
October, 10th – The two pilots of Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, on their return from their recent round of the world, recounted their feat, highlighting the technological challenges faced by APES journalists at Château de Penthes / GE.They also explained the implications of this project for the future.Left, President of APES Jean Musy and right, Vice-President Peter Kenny.
The Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein
The Foreign Press Association in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, known by its French acronym APES, was founded in Geneva in 1928 and now has over 120 members representing media from every continent.
The majority of members are based in and around Geneva in French-speaking Switzerland, home to many United Nations and other international agencies.
There is also a sizeable contingent in German-speaking Zurich, Switzerland’s commercial hub, with a sprinkling in Bern, the Swiss capital, and Basel, a major cultural centre.
In addition to representing the professional interests of its members, APES facilitates their work through its contacts with Swiss federal and cantonal authorities, organisations and enterprises spanning all aspects of Swiss life, including politics, business, finance, science and culture.
Through these contacts APES organises a varied programme of activities for members including, each year, a themed visit to one of Switzerland’s 26 cantons and a dinner or lunch with the Swiss President as guest of honour to which many other prominent Swiss are also invited.
