Kyiv-Bern: good cooperation prospects

In an interview with Micheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the Ukrainian President’s visit to Switzerland in May 2009, she told The Day she really appreciated that fact that Ukraine had decided to accredit another ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to her country, namely Ihor Dir, who had previously headed the Presidential Secretariat’s Chief Foreign Policy Directorate. Dir was born in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia), graduated from the prestigious MGIMO Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations. He has a fluent command of English, Arabic, and Slovak. He has spent more than a decade working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and has taken part in drawing up the statute of the International Criminal Court (currently known as the Rome Statute). This 38-year-old diplomat represents a new generation of Ukrainian political cadre and diplomatic elite, which took shape after Ukraine proclaimed its independence.

European integration principles are predominant in Ukraine’s foreign policy. At the same time, Ukraine is trying to actively develop bilateral relations with both the EU members and all the other European countries. Over the past several years European countries have shown an increasingly keen interest in Ukraine, its political choice, and business cooperation opportunities.

In this context, the desire of foreign media to obtain first-hand information about Ukraine is having a positive effect on Ukraine’s international image.

Thus, the newly posted Ukrainian ambassador was asked to have an interview with the Tribune de Geneve. I decided to take advantage of Dir’s visit to Geneve and asked him to give an interview to our newspaper on the status of Ukraine-Switzerland relation.

SWISS EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS IS VERY USEFUL

Mr. Dir, Alain Berset, Speaker of the Council of States of Switzerland, paid a visit to Ukraine in mid-November 2009. Is there any link between this visit of the head of the Swiss parliament’s lower house and President Viktor Yushchenko’s visit to Switzerland in May?

“There is, indeed. Alain Berset was invited to visit Kyiv by the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, but the idea of stepping up our bilateral relations on the parliamentary level had been discussed in May. As you know, during his two-day visit to Switzerland Viktor Yushchenko met with the President of the Swiss Confederation, the Vice President, and the heads of both Houses of the Swiss Parliament.

“Apart from top-level political meetings, we worked out the economic segment of the visit’s program: on May 14 President Yushchenko took part in the economic forum in Thun; on May 15 he delivered the lecture ‘Ukraine’s European Integration’ at the University of Zurich, where he was conferred ZU Institute of Europe’s honorary membership.

“The Ukrainian president also met with Philipp Hildebrand, the newly appointed chief of the Swiss National Bank. The result of their talks was an agreement on technical aid to Ukraine’s banking sector. Needless to say, preparations for Euro 2012 were uppermost on the agendas of the meetings between Ukrainian and Swiss business representatives.

“The way Yushchenko met with Alain Berset wasn’t strictly in keeping with protocol. I might as well point out that Berset’s youthful vigor left Yushchenko impressed. Berset invited Yushchenko to visit his home city of Fribourg and acquaint himself with its cultural heritage, explore the local history museum. We were glad to note that the young politician was genuinely interested in the history of his and other countries.

“The talks focused on ways to further cooperation between the parliaments and the best ways to use Swiss experience in building up parliamentarianism [in Ukraine].”

It stands to logic that Alain Berset would focus on this subject during his visit to Kyiv.

“The Ukrainian public and political quarters are actively discussing reforms in the parliamentary system. Swiss experience of many years comes very handy under the circumstances. When meeting with Ukrainian MPs, Alain Berset mostly discussed the structure and functioning of the Swiss Council of States, the Swiss Parliament.

“The current Ukrainian Parliament has a Ukraine-Switzerland Friendship Group, the largest of its kind, considering that it’s made up of 68 MPs. [During Berset’s visit] the Ukrainian side showed an interest in having a similar group in the Swiss Parliament, so both groups would be able to determine the spheres of mutually advantageous interparliamentary cooperation.

“There is also the fact that Ukrainian MPs represent certain regions, while their Swiss counterparts, certain cantons. This could serve as a fertile ground on which to develop interregional economic cooperation. We believe that interparliamentary exchanges should be placed on a regular basis, as regular reciprocal visits and meetings on the highest parliamentary level.”

UKRAINE IS VERY INTERESTED IN COOPERATION WITH SWITZERLAND

Talking of economic relations, what is there to make Switzerland interested in Ukraine?

“Switzerland is in Ukraine’s top ten trade partners and investors. Despite the global financial crisis, Swiss investments have increased by almost 20 percent in 2009, compared to 2008. I would like to single out such projects as Nestle, UBS, and Credit Suisse branches in the banking sector that are very much alive and kicking in Ukraine.”

Is there anything Ukraine can offer the oversupplied Swiss market?

“Ukraine is showing a markedly keen interest in maintaining cooperation with Switzerland. At present, launching Ukrainian goods and promoting Ukrainian interest in the Swiss market are easier said than done, considering that this market offers practically all of the latest up-to-date technologies of both domestic and foreign manufacture.

“Despite all this, we’re moving ahead with our plans. We’ve held talks with the European Free Trade Association, which yielded positive results. We expect to be among the signatories to an EFTA agreement. Switzerland, as an EFTA member country, is actively promoting Ukraine’s membership. In this respect we are receiving a great deal of assistance from Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard. We hope that by signing this agreement we will ensure easier access of Ukrainian goods to the Swiss market, and that this will be facilitated by Ukraine’s WTO membership.

“As to what Ukraine can offer the Swiss market, it’s agricultural products in the first place, along with chemical and metal manufacture. Switzerland and Ukraine may well become mutually interested in other lines of business. Ukraine, like Switzerland, is rich in forests. Since 2005 Switzerland has been providing technological aid to Ukraine in the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Forest Development Project in Zakarpattia (FORZA), mostly aimed at improving forest management and environment. Eventually, we might start collaborating along the woodworking and furnishing business lines, considering that even now Ukraine has several furniture plants launched with the aid of Swiss investments.

“Kyiv hosted the eighth session of the Ukrainian-Swiss Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which positively assessed the status of our bilateral relations. Its findings were of special importance; we included them in our action plan, with an eye to the nearest economic collaboration prospects.”

SWISS TOWN VEVEY IS PLANNING TO UNVEIL A MONUMENT TO NIKOLAI GOGOL

How about Ukrainian-Swiss cooperation in the cultural realm?

“Switzerland regularly hosts concert tours of leading Ukrainian performing groups. The Ukrainian embassy in Bern patronizes the annual concert tours of the Ukrainian National Philharmonic Society’s symphony orchestra in the urban areas of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In June 2009 a Ukrainian-Italian concert took place in Rapperswil as part of the festival ‘Music Summer at Lake Zurich.’

“During this year documents relating to the Ukrainian Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky were transferred to the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine. In the spring of 2009, a hostel for mentally handicapped students started functioning in the Transcarpathian town of Tiachiv. Owing to charitable contributions from members of the Swiss association Parasolka (totaling over a million Swiss francs), which were channeled into the hostel construction project, 25 heavily retarded residents of Vilshany’s children’s home will now be able to have a fresh start in life, enjoying living conditions and equipment matching those in similar Swiss institutions.

“On October 30, the University of Fribourg hosted an international symposium to commemorate Nikolai Gogol’s 200th anniversary. It was attended by scholars from Germany, the US, Canada, Poland, and Ukraine. Yet there is an even more significant and pertinent event to be seen. Vevey, a Swiss town, is planning to unveil a monument to Gogol, considering that he started working on his final version of Dead Souls, back in 1836, in this Swiss Riviera. The Vevey City Council gratefully accepted Ukraine’s present, a bronze statue on a granite pedestal, designed by the Ukrainian sculptor Anatolii Valiev. In fact, it is already there, on the embankment. Hopefully, the unveiling ceremony will take place as scheduled.”