Switzerland’s ambassador and the Moscow Region governor agreed Thursday that the confederation and Russia’s largest region should expand their cooperation past purely economic matters to include culture and education.
“We are similar, which means that we can and should not just cooperate on economic matters,” Walter Bruno Gyger noted during a meeting at the regional government headquarters. He said the Moscow Region and Switzerland are almost identical both in terms of area and population.
Gyger suggested a special program be developed that covered the meaningful cooperation of the two sides in culture and education.
“Towns throughout the Moscow Region could hold Swiss Culture Days at some point in the future, and local schoolchildren studying German, French or Italian would have the chance to communicate with their Swiss peers under exchange schemes,” the Moscow Region governor’s press service said in a news release following the meeting.
According to Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov, the current investment climate in the region favored commercial cooperation between local entrepreneurs and their Swiss counterparts.
“Many businesses from Switzerland and other European countries have already seen this for themselves,” the news release quoted Gromov as saying. “The government of the Moscow Region closely monitors every significant investment project, from the moment of its inception right through to commissioning.”
According to official statistics, Swiss investors hold stakes in 24 companies in the region. In 2009, bilateral trade between Switzerland and the Moscow Region reached $259.3 million while total Swiss investment there amounted to $78.9 million. One of the most ambitious projects being implemented with Swiss involvement is the construction of an industrial compound in the Noginsk district. More than 125 hectares of land has been allocated for the site.
MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti)
