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Ambassador: Swiss want more Chinese investments

By Guan Xiaomeng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-11-04 11:18

The Swiss ambassador to China wants to lure more investors from China, which is already the second-largest trade partner to the European Union community surrounding Switzerland.

Ambassador H.E. Blaise Godget, Swiss ambassador to China for more than a year, spoke at the first China Overseas Investment Fair in Beijing on Tuesday.

Ambassador H.E. Blaise Godget, Swiss ambassador to China addresses at the investment fair of Switzerland as part of the first China Overseas Investment Fair in Beijing on November 3, 2009.

"We now have nearly 700 Swiss companies active in China. But this is not yet matched by the number of Chinese investments in Switzerland," Godget said in an exclusive interview with chinadaily.com.cn.

Swiss companies that have invested in China are mainly in pharmaceutical, environmental protection and other hi-tech industries.

Godget was confident that more Chinese investors would switch from the European market to Switzerland, where more than 1,000 transnational companies have set up regional or international headquarters.

"Why? Because Switzerland is stable in politics and business-friendly in tax and labor law. We have the tradition to welcome foreigners and are accustomed to dealing with transnational companies and the international community," he said.

Switzerland is located at the center of the European continent, and is the traffic hub to major cities in Europe. The 7.8-million population includes three main linguistic and cultural regions: French, German and Italian.

Officials from the office of Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion and representatives of some regional investment agencies attended the fair to give the Chinese investors an introduction of their investment environment.

Patrik Wermelinger, a Luzern representative in charge of the city's promotion and marketing said the natural-scenery-rich city would provide investors an ideal working and living environment.

Located on the shore of Lake Lucerne and within sight of Mount Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne is a traditionally the first-considered tourist destination in Switzerland.