Statement by the President of India in the Parliament House Building While Addressing the Federal Council

I bring warm greetings from the people of the largest democracy to one of the oldest democracies in the world. It is a privilege to be here in the Parliament House Building, the seat of Switzerland's unique and robust democracy, to meet the President and Federal Councillors of the Swiss Confederation.

My delegation and I are deeply touched by the gracious welcome that we received on our arrival in your beautiful country. We have no doubt that this special warmth shown to us is not just a reflection of Switzerland's world-famous expertise in faultless hospitality; it is also a demonstration of the strong bonds of friendship linking our two peoples and our two countries.

Our shared democratic values have fostered a close understanding between our two countries from the very beginning. The Treaty of Friendship with Switzerland was the first such Treaty that independent India signed. There has been much transformation that our two countries - and, indeed, the world itself - has seen over the past six decades, but yet India-Swiss relations have stood the test of time.

President Calmy-Rey's State visit to India in November 2007 provided significant impetus to further strengthening of our existing bilateral ties. Since then, there have been numerous exchanges between the two countries at all levels, covering a wide canvas that encompasses political, economic and cultural relations. The last visit to India of Madame Calmy-Rey in August 2010, as the Foreign Minister kept up the momentum that had been generated and added more substance to our bilateral relationship. Visits by the then Federal Councillor for Economic Affairs Mrs. Leuthard in 2008 and 2009, and her successor Federal Councillor Mr. Amman in April this year, accompanied by a large business delegation, maintained the focus on the economic dimension of our relationship. From the Indian side too, many Ministers have visited Switzerland. The interaction between political leaders dealing with key areas has been most productive.

In the last five years, the Indian economy has been growing at a sustained and consistent rate, despite the global financial crisis. The macro economic fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and its regulatory mechanisms are sound. The economy grew at 8.6 percent last year. Keeping pace with our growth and our expanding market, India-Switzerland economic and commercial relations have also expanded steadily. Bilateral trade between the two countries has crossed 3.5 Billion Euros and is continuing to increase. Two-way investments have also shown a steady upward trend. However, there is a great scope for enhancement of the current economic interaction through further cooperation and collaboration in a number of areas. There are strong complementarities between Switzerland's technological capabilities, and our own strengths and demands for high technology. In key areas such as clean technology, environmental protection and urban waste collection, Swiss industries can provide us with innovative solutions.

Switzerland ranks amongst the leading countries in the world in harnessing renewable sources of energy, including both wind and hydro. Thus, renewable energy is clearly a sector where there is a great potential for bilateral cooperation. There is also scope for greater collaboration in biotechnology, where the two countries could focus on cutting edge areas, such as bio-electronics and bio-informatics, and food processing, in which Switzerland has developed great expertise.

India too has gained recognition from the world for its human resources that makes it an ideal Research and Development location. It has also emerged as a hub for high quality, cost-competitive manufacturing. These advantages offered by India, taken together with the innovative culture of Swiss enterprises, have created enormous synergies between our two economies which we should harness to benefit both our people.

Switzerland, situated in the heart of Europe, surrounded by major European markets, has begun to attract investments from well-known Indian companies which have already established a significant global presence. The entry into force of the Amending Protocol to the existing bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, signed in August 2010 will boost this trend. A Memorandum of Understanding on Financial Dialogue, which will be signed today, would provide a useful forum for exchange of views on financial and macro-economic issues. The bilateral Social Security Agreement signed in 2009, would also help industry in regards to its liabilities and contribution towards social security of its employees. We look forward to the early conclusion of the Trade and Investment Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Area, which will give a further boost to bilateral economic relations.

We welcome the increased participation of small and medium enterprises in bilateral economic interaction, as they play a major role in employment generation, technology innovation and diversification of exports. However, there is need for building the necessary skill base and, in this context, vocational training is of great importance. The Vocational Education and Training Initiative between our two countries which has contributed to capacity building efforts in India, needs to be broadened in scope and reach. India has launched a massive national programme for skill development where we aim at training five hundred million skilled personnel by 2022. We would like Switzerland to be India's partner in this mission. 2011 has been a year when India has been very visible in Switzerland. It was the 'guest' country at BASELWorld, the well-attended annual exhibition of watches and jewellery. It was the 'guest of honour' at the recently concluded Geneva Festival and the 'focus' country at Locarno Film Festival. Such events reinforce people-to-people contacts in our relations and must be encouraged.

Tomorrow, we will be launching a new chapter of bilateral cooperation with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Lausanne to establish the 'Tagore Chair on Indian Studies'. This Chair would be pivotal in bringing together scholars as well as students from both countries.

On the multilateral stage too, our countries have been actively and constructively collaborating on a wide range of issues. Both Switzerland and India believe that the United Nations system needs to be reformed to make it more democratic and effective. India is convinced that this would require, among other things, the expansion of the UN Security Council. We strongly believe that India meets and satisfies all objective criteria for having a permanent seat in the expanded Security Council. We thank the Swiss Confederation for supporting our candidature for a non-permanent seat in the Council for 2011-12, and hope that it would be able to support India's aspirations to a permanent seat as well.

International Terrorism is one of the multilateral issues on which India and Switzerland share a common view. We appreciate the strong and unequivocal condemnation by Switzerland of terrorist attacks in India. The international community needs to work together to eliminate the forces of terrorism, which are inflicting wanton destruction across the globe at will. This is vital for peace and stability in the world.

Another global challenge facing humanity today which requires an urgent, collective and coordinated global response is climate change. For a country like India, with one of the smallest carbon foot-prints in the world, the first and overriding priority is to alleviate poverty and to address our severe energy deficit. Half a billion people in India still do not have access to commercial energy. Despite our huge developmental challenges, we are doing everything possible, within our means and resources, to contribute to the global action on climate change through an ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change. We have already declared our commitment to keep per capita emissions below the average per capita emissions of developed countries.

Excellency, the historical nature of our relationship has transformed in recent years to a truly multifaceted partnership, with the potential for contributing to the prosperity and security not only of our two peoples, but in the world. Let us work together steadfastly towards this lofty objective.

Thank you.