To mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Singapore the President of the Council of States, Ivo Bischofberger, and a delegation was received for an official visit and working lunch in the Singaporean parliament by Deputy Speaker Lim Biow Chuan, and members of the Europe Regional Parliamentary Group on 27 March. During the course of the day, a courtesy visit was made to Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. The meeting highlighted the excellent bilateral relations fostered between the two countries, particularly in the areas of business, finance and education.
As part of the two-day working visit to Singapore, Mr Bischofberger visited a number of Swiss education institutions, namely the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC), the St. Gallen Institute of Management in Asia Pte Ltd (SGI) and the Swiss School in in Singapore (SSiS), which also celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. At a reception organised by the local embassy he had the opportunity to meet with Swiss residents at the Swiss Club where the delegation was present at the launch of a postcard booklet entitled ‘50 years of diplomatic relations Switzerland – Singapore’ published by the Swiss Embassy in Singapore.
In the second half of the week, Mr Bischofberger paid an official visit to Hanoi at the invitation of the chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. On 29 March, the president of the Council of States and his delegation were invited to an official meeting and reception with Mrs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and selected committee chairpersons in the Vietnamese National Assembly. They will paid courtesy visits to President Tran Dai Quang, Education Minister Phung Xuan Nha and Trade and Industry Minister Tran Tuan Anh.
Mr Bischfoberger and the members of his delegation used their visit to Vietnam to gain an insight into Swiss development cooperation activities in the country, in particular cooperation in the field of environmentally sustainable economic development. The delegation was informed about a project aimed at transforming industrial zones into green business parks. Vietnam has been a priority country for Switzerland’s development cooperation since the early 1990s and has been a priority country for economic development cooperation, run by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, since 2008.
The delegation accompanying Council of States president Ivo Bischofberger comprised Council of States members Karin Keller-Sutter (first vice president, FDP. The Liberals, SG), Jean-René Fournier (second vice president, CVP, VS), Géraldine Savary (SP, VD), Alex Kuprecht (SVP, SZ), Robert Cramer (GP, GE) and Martina Buol, Deputy Secretary General of the Federal Assembly and Secretary of the Council of States, and Cédric Stucky, head of EFTA/EU and Bilateral Relations.