Flavio Cotti was a Swiss politician who served as member of the Federal Council from 1986 to 1999. He was a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party from the canton of Ticino. In the 1990s, Cotti led the Swiss government's unsuccessful attempts to further Switzerland's political integration into the European Union. He was President of the Confederation in 1991 and 1998 and headed the departments of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, so named since 1979, is one of the seven Departments of the Swiss government federal administration of Switzerland, and corresponds in its range of tasks to the ministry of foreign affairs in other countries. The department is always headed by one of the members of the Swiss Federal Council. Since 1 November 2017, the department is headed by Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis.