Key facts
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) examined the functionality and utility of small Swiss embassies abroad. These are representations with a single diplomat supported by three to four local employees. Switzerland has a dense network by international standards, similar in size to that of the Netherlands. Among its 169 representations, the Confederation has about 100 embassies. 31 are small representations. Their annual costs are around CHF 25 million. Most of them are located in European Union (EU) countries.