Swiss delegation to SPIEF 2018 to be led by Finance Minister Ueli Maurer
Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, met in Moscow with Yves Rossier, Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to the Russian Federation.
Mr. Kobyakov pointed to the positive trend in the development of Russian-Swiss relations. Indeed, there have been regular political contacts between the two countries. A promising area of cooperation is development of small and medium-sized businesses and interregional projects.
“Russian-Swiss sales have been on the rise in recent years. Today, there are over 600 Swiss-invested companies in Russia and about 350 Russian-invested companies operating in Switzerland. Much attention is being paid to improving the investment climate,” Mr. Kobyakov underlined.
The meeting focused at the problems of cooperation in terms of forums, in particular participation of the Swiss delegation in the SPIEF 2018 events.
Mr. Kobyakov hailed Bern’s decision to send a high-profile delegation to the Forum. It will be led by the Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer and will also include the heads of major companies and organizations, such as ABB Ltd, Glencore plc, Nestle and Philip Morris International Inc., which are prepared for long-term cooperation with Russian partners.
“As we know, Switzerland’s Davos hosts the World Economic Forum and we appreciate such events like nobody else. We consider Switzerland’s participation in the SPIEF important and useful and see it as an excellent opportunity for officials and businessmen to discuss any problems in the bilateral relations and ways to resolve them. My colleagues and our business people have always spoken positively about their involvement in the Forum, which is consistently well-organized,” Mr. Rossier said.
Among other things, the parties considered the possibility of holding a Russian-Swiss roundtable as part of the SPIEF 2018 business programme and a reception on behalf of Swiss delegation head Ueli Maurer for Forum participants. They also discussed the details of the forthcoming financial dialogue at the level of Russian and Swiss finance ministers. ¬
