2022-05_swiss-ambassador

The Ambassador of Switzerland in France meets with UPPA

By Bénédicte Lamothe, Direction de la Communication

The project “On the road with Switzerland: a bike, an ambassador, encounters” was launched at the end of March 2022 and will last for almost two years. It is an opportunity for the Ambassador of Switzerland in France, Roberto Balzaretti, to discover our territories through cycling. And more particularly Franco-Swiss initiatives, companies, universities, as well as political and cultural actors. On Thursday, May 5, 2022, he visited our campus in Pau.

After a lunch at the university cafeteria La Vague with Laurent Bordes, president of the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour, and Christophe Derail, vice-president of Partnership and Innovation, the Ambassador met students present on the forecourt of the Presidency Hall for our solidarity operation “Feel Good.”

UPPA President Laurent Bordes signs the guestbook of “On the road with Switzerland”
Then he listened to the presentations of three professors-researchers working in the interdisciplinary field of energy and the environment: Hervé Martinez (hub RAISE on solid electrolyte batteries), Anthony Ranchou-Peyruse (ORHYON chair on micro-organisms and the reactivity of hydrogen in the subsoil) and Xavier Arnauld de Sartre (TREE laboratory on Energy and Environmental transitions, which brings together researchers from Geography, Sociology, Law and Economics).

A fruitful discussion followed on the differences between the Swiss and French political systems, and on the notion of acceptability of government policies by citizens. Mr. Roberto Balzaretti indicated that Switzerland is facing the same issues and debates. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation and interaction to move society forward, particularly in terms of energy sobriety.