I am pleased to address the readers of this special supplement published by Daily Business Recorder to mark the 726th National Day of Switzerland. I wish that this publication will present a friendly picture of my country and provide useful information on bilateral relations between Switzerland and Pakistan. In terms of area and population, compared to Pakistan, Switzerland is a smaller country. It has a population of 8.3 million spread over an area of 41,285 Km2. Its economy ranks 1st among 138 countries in competitiveness and liberalism as evaluated by the World Economic Forum's report on global competitiveness.
Bilateral relations were established between Switzerland and Pakistan soon after the latter's birth. The first diplomatic mission of Switzerland was opened in Pakistan in 1949. Bilateral relations between the two countries are based on trust and good will, and I am glad to state that these relations continue to strengthen further with the passage of time.
Presently, twenty one large Swiss companies have operations in Pakistan and it is estimated that their investment in Pakistan has crossed 1.5 billion US Dollars over the last ten years. Such valuable contribution by Swiss companies like Nestlé, ABB, Novartis, Roche, Archroma, Habib Metropolitan Bank, Sika, etc. has made Switzerland one of the top foreign direct investors in Pakistan. Besides this, there are a number of strategic alliances between businessmen of Switzerland and Pakistan and by virtue of this the trade between the two countries reached almost a half billion US Dollars in the calendar year 2016. Switzerland exports pharmaceuticals, machinery, precision instruments, chemicals, watches, etc. to Pakistan while imports mainly textile and agriculture products. To promote bilateral trade relations further between the two countries, Swiss Business Council (SBC) was established in 2008 by the private sector. SBC has been playing a significant role in collaboration with Switzerland Global Enterprise by finding suitable Pakistani partners for the Swiss SMEs. Recently, under the leadership of the Swiss Consul General in Karachi, SBC successfully organized a delegation of Pakistani businessmen to Switzerland for exploring further trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
Apart from trade, Switzerland has also been offering aid to Pakistan since 1966 through Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation (SDC), one of the wings of Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland to disperse aid. After working for more than 51 years in Pakistan, SDC will close its engagement in 2019 and as such, the main area of cooperation will be focused on trade.
Besides providing financial support, Switzerland has also been contributing towards the skill development of the youth of Pakistan since 2012 through Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship program. These scholarships are offered in the disciplines of research after Masters, PhD, and Post Doc in the public universities of Switzerland. Since its commencement, 35 bright students from Pakistan have been awarded with this prestigious opportunity to obtain higher education in their field of research.
While concluding, I am confident that our relations will continue to flourish in future and bring the people of our two countries even closer. I would also like to congratulate Daily Business Recorder for taking such an excellent initiative of publishing this supplement and wish them success in their endeavors to further strengthening bilateral and economic relations between Switzerland and Pakistan.
Comments
Comments are closed.