THE Swiss Embassy celebrated its country’s 725th National Day in Makati City by highlighting its growing bilateral trade with the rest of the world.
“Seven hundred twenty five years of existence gives us a good reason for wanting to celebrate with our Filipino partners and the international community,” Swiss Ambassador Andrea Reichlin said.
She added: “For a landlocked country with no significant natural resources, it is easy to understand why the Swiss economy would be highly dependent on international trade in goods and services.”
Reichlin then pointed to a projected image of a tunnel through the Gotthard Pass dug in 1882 and a second one in 1906.
“The aforementioned transalpine trading route over the Gotthard mountain pass was already, some 750 years ago, a commercial highway of highest importance for Europe. Now Switzerland has a network of 72 free-trade agreements [FTAs]—some bilateral and some in the framework of the European Free Trade Association or Efta—with partners all over the world,” she said.
Reichlin then thanked the Department of Trade and Industry for the conclusion of the Efta-Philippine FTA signed in April in Berne.
“It is only Switzerland’s second FTA in the whole of Southeast Asia, and our hope is that the Philippine government would soon ratify it, enabling more business between our two countries,” she said.
Reichlin cited the Swiss companies operating in the country that have been providing jobs to more than 15,000 Filipinos. She also said through the Philippine Swiss Business Council, Swiss firms will continue to have strong cooperation with their local counterparts.
The Swiss ambassador also noted the best institutionalized processes cannot prosper without people-to-people relations.
“This is an integral part of our celebration—our people-to-people links. Filipinos know this only too well, given your wonderful indigenous trait bayanihan, where the spirit of communal unity, work and cooperation is at the fore, and permeating Philippine everyday life in various ways,” Reichlin said.
Reichlin then touched on the ongoing peace process in the country, which she said their country is fully supporting.
“Switzerland has supported since 2014, the work of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission of the Philippines, which was mandated to address marginalization in the Bangsamoro and the Sulu archipelago. The commission has listened to the grievances of over 3,300 individuals and has put in place a consultation process that converged into a report with important recommendations on the way forward,” she said.
Reichlin said everybody is aware that overcoming conflict is a difficult undertaking and dealing with the past, though only one element in a complex architecture leading to peace, is a crucial one.
She said their government is committed to assist the recent road map for peace presented by the administration of President Duterte and will remain a close partner of the Philippines in the challenges ahead.
Reichlin commended all those working toward peace, both groups and individuals, who courageously work at engagement and further cooperation.
Image credits: Roy Domingo