1. February 2020

Ambassador Martin Dahinden

Until his recent retirement from the Swiss  Government services,  Dr. Martin Dahinden was Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America. Prior to that, he was Head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Director of Corporate Management in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, he held assignments in Paris, Lagos (Nigeria), New York, Brussels, Geneva and Bern. Martin Dahinden earned a Ph.D. in Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he was employed by a bank and a publishing house.

Martin Dahinden has a longstanding and deep interest in peace and security affairs, beginning during his academic studies at the University of Zurich, practised inter alia during his posting at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to NATO in Brussels, as Ambassador and Head of the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and as Ambassador of Switzerland to the US.

Already during his tenure at GICHD in Geneva, he took an interest in and was advising the founders of ICT4Peace in 2004.