Event

Please join us on Tuesday, December 13, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. for a private informal breakfast discussion with Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, Swiss State Secretary for Economy, and Head of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). Secretary Ineichen-Fleisch will discuss her views on the Swiss-U.S. bilateral trade and economic relationship, the WTO and future of the global trading system and the current economic situation in Switzerland and Europe.

State Secretary Ineichen-Fleisch took over as director of SECO (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) on April 1, 2011 after the departure of Jean-Daniel Gerber. In 2007 Ineichen-Fleisch was appointed ambassador and delegate for the government for trade talks. She was Switzerland’s chief negotiator at the WTO, a member of SECO’s management and head of the World Trade Division in the Foreign Economic Affairs Director. With an Italian and French-speaking background, she completed her legal studies in the capital Bern in 1987, worked afterwards at McKinsey and earned her MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. She joined the Federal Office for Foreign Trade, SECO’s predecessor, in 1990.

She has served as a three time member of WTOpanels, ruling on the 1999 dispute between South Korea and the United States regarding government procurement, the 2003 dispute between the EC and U.S. regarding subsidies andthe 2006 dispute (as Chairperson) between the U.S. and Turkey regarding rice imports.

This meeting is off the record.

Please RSVP by Vivian Myers at vmyer@nftc.org if you will attend.