Institutional Relations
Lugano builds its future through dialogue with the world. The City’s international relations foster connections and create new development opportunities for the economy, culture, tourism, academia, and innovation ecosystems. This tangible commitment reflects the identity of a dynamic, attractive city that plays a leading role on the international stage.
Lugano in the World, the World in Lugano
Starting in 2004, the City of Lugano embarked on a strategy of institutional positioning aimed at strengthening relationships with cities, regions, and international partners. Within this framework, the municipality acts as a facilitator: it opens channels for dialogue, connects institutions, businesses, universities, and research centres, and promotes synergies and collaborations that generate value for the region.
This strategy reinforces Lugano’s role as an open urban centre with a strong international outlook. As a hub for business, finance, and innovation, the city has a long tradition of exchanges with Europe and the wider world. Its cosmopolitan character, the widespread knowledge of Switzerland’s national languages and English, together with the presence of 141 nationalities, make it a place where networking and mediation come naturally. Situated at the crossroads between the two major metropolitan areas of Milan and Zurich, Lugano benefits from a strategic location that strengthens its role as a platform for high value-added services and as a gateway for exchange between Northern and Southern Europe. Added to this are the quality of its natural surroundings, its human-scale urban environment, and the area’s strong attractiveness.
Events of International Importance
Founded in 2025 in collaboration with the City of Lugano and Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), the Lugano Global Forum is an international platform for dialogue dedicated to the major economic, geopolitical, and technological transformations of our time. The first edition, held on 10 and 11 November 2025, brought together political leaders, business executives, academics, representatives from the financial sector, and media professionals in Lugano to discuss the theme “The Certainty of Uncertainty: Navigating the New World Disorder”. Through this annual event, Lugano strengthens its international positioning as a place for meeting, dialogue, and relationship-building among institutions, businesses, and the world of knowledge.
On 3 and 4 December 2026, Lugano will host the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Headquartered in Vienna, the OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization, with 57 participating States.
The conference will take place within the framework of the Swiss Chairpersonship of the OSCE, which Switzerland will assume in 2026 for the third time, after 1996 and 2014.
For two days, Lugano will be at the centre of international attention. After hosting the Ukraine Recovery Conference in 2022, the City confirms its ability to welcome high-level international events and strengthens its role as a platform for dialogue, exchange, and cooperation in support of peace and shared security.
The event will be attended by the Foreign Ministers of the 57 participating States and the 11 Partners for Co-operation, accompanied by their respective delegations. The discussions will address key issues relating to security, political cooperation, and conflict prevention.
At a historical moment marked by conflicts and geopolitical tensions, Switzerland intends, through its OSCE Chairpersonship, to help promote dialogue among States, fostering solutions aimed at stability and mutual trust.
The event will be organised in close cooperation with the Confederation, the Canton of Ticino, and the City of Lugano, with the aim of ensuring the success of an event of international importance for Switzerland and the entire region.
On Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 July 2022, the City of Lugano and the Canton of Ticino hosted the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022). Long included in the Swiss and international political agenda, URC 2022 redefined its focus following the outbreak of the armed conflict and was dedicated to Ukraine’s reconstruction and development plan, culminating in the Lugano Declaration and its seven guiding principles.
The conference was jointly organised by the Swiss Federal Council and the Government of Ukraine. Switzerland was represented by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga, and the President of the National Council, Irène Kälin. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressed the conference via video link, while Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and several members of the Ukrainian Government attended in person.
The proceedings of URC 2022 brought together 58 international delegations, including that of the European Union. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also attended the conference in Lugano.
Town Twinning and Cooperation Agreements: Instruments of International Dialogue
Lugano looks beyond its borders, guided by an open and interconnected vision that extends beyond the local dimension. Town twinning arrangements and cooperation agreements are key instruments for developing shared initiatives in strategic areas such as the economy, education and research, culture and tourism, innovation, and digital transformation.
Today, competitiveness increasingly takes place between urban areas, seen as hubs of innovation, knowledge, services, and opportunities. Thanks to a strong economic, cultural, and social ecosystem that is recognised both nationally and internationally, the City enjoys a well-established reputation, making it a credible and attractive partner for institutions, investors, businesses, and research centres.
The City of Lugano currently maintains a twinning agreement with the City of Hangzhou (China) and multisectoral cooperation agreements with seven cities across four countries.
Multisectoral Cooperation Agreements
Buenos Aires – 18 October 2008
The collaboration has developed primarily in the cultural sphere, fostering artistic exchanges, exhibition initiatives, opportunities for institutional dialogue, and mutual promotion between the two cities.
Almaty – 18 May 2016
The agreement promotes relations aimed at economic and cultural cooperation, with particular attention to the development of contacts between institutions and businesses.
Genoa – 17 April 2018
The collaboration is centred on the themes of the economy, culture, mobility, European logistics and infrastructure, with particular attention to the major transformation processes affecting international trade, fostering opportunities for dialogue and in-depth exchange among institutions, experts and sector operators.
Beihai – 18 December 2004
Changchun – 2 August 2004
Zhenjiang – 15 October 2016
Chaoyang District, Beijing – 31 July 2012
For the Chinese cities, exchanges focus in particular on the cultural, academic, scientific, tourism, economic and innovation sectors, with the aim of fostering institutional dialogue, exchanges between territories, and the development of relationships among businesses, universities and research centres.
Diplomatic Visits and Institutional Meetings
Diplomatic visits and institutional meetings represent an important aspect of the City’s international relations. In Lugano, the reception of delegations, ambassadors, consuls and Swiss and foreign institutional representatives takes place according to a protocol that promotes dialogue and mutual respect.
The city authorities, particularly the Mayor and the Municipal Councillors, receive guests in representative venues such as Palazzo Civico and Villa Ciani. The protocol includes official greetings, discussions on matters of common interest, the exchange of symbolic gifts and the signing of the Book of Honour.
In this context, protocol is not merely a formal framework but also an instrument of local diplomacy. Diplomatic and institutional visits help maintain an ongoing dialogue with cities, institutions and partners, promote the City’s image on the international stage and create the conditions for future cooperation.
Each visit provides an opportunity to present Lugano in all its dimensions: a Swiss city with an international outlook, capable of combining institutional stability, quality of life, economic dynamism and a strong commitment to innovation. Through these meetings, the City strengthens its network of relationships, showcases the expertise of the local area and consolidates its role as a bridge between different realities and cultures.
The City of Lugano's Book of Honour
The City’s Book of Honour is the place where protocol becomes memory and every encounter leaves a lasting mark.
Since 1985, it has preserved the signatures, dedications and messages of political authorities, delegations and distinguished guests welcomed by the City, transforming each official visit into a living record of Lugano’s institutional history. Presidents and Heads of State, Federal Councillors, diplomatic authorities, Princes and Queens, elite athletes, artists and academics have entrusted its pages with a trace of their presence, helping to compose the story of the relationships that Lugano has built over time.
Page after page, the Book of Honour reflects the image of a city open to dialogue, capable of building connections with European and global partners, welcoming new interlocutors and transforming institutional encounters into enduring relationships.
Numerous countries from all five continents are represented in its pages: from Japan to New Zealand, from India to the United States, as well as Indonesia, China, Argentina, Peru, South Africa and South Korea. These are just a few examples of the many different origins represented, illustrating the richness of cultures, languages, histories and perspectives that have come to Lugano over the years. Each signature thus becomes a testament to openness and dialogue, transforming protocol into a symbolic bridge between the City and the world.
Preserved as an integral part of the City’s ceremonial traditions, the Book continues to accompany official visits to this day, giving each meeting a significance that extends beyond the event itself. It is a living memory and a symbol of institutional identity, but also an expression of Lugano’s vocation as a place of welcome and exchange among different cultures, communities and institutions.
The English version of this page was created with the aid of automatic translation tools and may contain errors and omissions.
The original version is the page in Italian.