Swiss National Day 1 August 2015
Swiss National Day 2015
As twilight fades to darkness on
Switzerland’s National Day, the air is suffused with light. Bonfires roar on
hillsides and mountaintops, fireworks sprinkle the sky with color and paper lampions,
which inspired today’s Doodle, glow in the streets.
NEWS
Swiss Embassy Celebrated its National Day in Astana, Switzerland Enjoys Solid Relations with Kazakhstan
By Dmitry Lee in Eurasia & World on 27 July 2015
ASTANA – Switzerland, one of the first countries to confirm
its participation in EXPO 2017, enjoys durable relations with Kazakhstan. As
members of the same voting group since 2010, the two nations cooperate within
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Their Central Banks have
close ties, emphasised by the visit to Almaty earlier this year by Swiss
National Bank President Thomas Jordan in order to meet his counterpart Kairat
Kelimbetov.
Switzerland and Kazakhstan are recognised worldwide for
adhering to neutral foreign policy. “Kazakhstan refers to it as ‘multi-vector
policy,’ in Switzerland it is called ‘armed-neutrality,” but it is a strong
parallel between our two countries,” Swiss Ambassador to Kazakhstan Mauro Reina
told The Astana Times in an exclusive interview. “If you take a closer look,
there are plenty of similarities in both countries’ foreign relations.
Switzerland maintains good relations with its neighbours and follows an important
role not only bilaterally but also multilaterally. For instance, as it is
well-known Kazakhstan has twice held the P5+1 Iran talks in 2013 and
Switzerland has also hosted similar Iran talks on numerous occasions, the last
one in Lausanne in early April. We are also supporting Kazakhstan in the bid
for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) non-permanent seat in 2017-2018.
Furthermore, we seek more cooperation within such organizations like the United
Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
which Kazakhstan chaired in 2010 and we chaired last year.”
Switzerland is the third largest foreign investor in the
Kazakh economy after the U.S. and the Netherlands. “Kazakhstan has been
recognised as Switzerland’s main partner in the Central Asian region,” said
Reina. He added that Switzerland is grateful to Kazakhstan for the visa waiver
for up to 15 days since July 16 because this is very important for doing
business. Current statistics have estimated $13.5 billion in Swiss direct
investments into the country from 2005 until the first quarter of 2015. The
data shows the trade turnover in 2014 totalled $4.7 billion, with Kazakh
exports at $4.5 billion, 95.7 percent consisting of energy inputs and products.
Imports totalled $188 million, including pharmaceuticals and chemicals (36.5
percent), watches (12 percent), agricultural products (10.7 percent), precious
stones and jewellery (10.6 percent), machinery and equipment (7.5 percent),
electronics (6.2 percent), fertilizers (4.2 percent) and optics (3.9 percent).
The ambassador also spoke about how his country contributes
to the development of the service sector in Kazakhstan. One concrete example is
the cooperation between Zurich Airport and the company KTZ Express for the management
and development of public airports in Kazakhstan. “Also the new terminal of
Astana Airport is being constructed by a Swiss company Mabetex”, Ambassador
Reina mentioned. “In view of the upcoming EXPO 2017, the standards of
construction will be very high, up to the international level.”
A
business delegation of Swiss Global Enterprise (S-GE) will visit Kazakhstan on
Sept. 7-10. An equivalent to KAZNEX INVEST, S-GE works under the authority of
the Swiss Government, and the purpose of its business trip is to help and
promote small and medium-sized companies from Switzerland and the Principality
of Liechtenstein to develop business relations with the Kazakh business
community.
On a personal note, Reina wants to bring the best of
Switzerland to Kazakhstan. Despite the geographic distance, he noted the
importance of the two nations becoming more familiar with one another.
Switzerland is a popular destination for Kazakhs who travel there for reasons
of business, study or health care or as tourists to explore the beautiful
country sides.
“My
Embassy is also active on the cultural exchange and thus has organised various
cultural events in the past. Among other projects a Swiss Jazz Band from the
French part gave live concerts and offered master classes in Almaty, Astana and
Ust-Kamenogorsk. For now, together with the National Museum of Kazakhstan, we
are planning an exhibition with the photographic works of one of Switzerland’s
contemporary photographer next spring,” he said.
