Discours et allocutions de l`Ambassadeur

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

I am very glad to welcome the participants of the International Forum “Russia-Switzerland: Energy of Efficiency” and especially the laureates of the “European Standard” award.

An active participation of our compatriots in this project, who are doing their best to put Russia forward on the way to modernisation and technological development, makes a great contribution to strengthening of our economic and humanitarian ties with Switzerland.

Modern Russian-Swiss relations are characterized by mutual trust, respect and sympathy. It is confirmed by the success of the last year state visit of the President of Russia to the Swiss Confederation, which is known to be the first in the history of bilateral relations. Our cooperation is steadily and successively developing in many areas: legal framework is being modernized, political dialogue is very active, major economic projects are being realised, new initiatives are being launched in education, science and culture, interregional relations are becoming closer, and contacts between ordinary people are expanding.

Our cooperation does have great perspectives. Looking at the agenda of the Forum, it is necessary to point out that we should, for example, take into consideration the experience of Switzerland in widespread implementation of information and energy-saving technologies. Of course, Russia also has much to offer its partners for mutually beneficial cooperation in these leading spheres.

We have every reason to face the future of the Russian-Swiss relations, including economic ones, with optimism. Both parties are confident in good prospects for our business cooperation. This positive dynamics can for a great extent be attributed to the efforts of the “European Standard” International Association. I would like to express this organisation my best wishes of success and its members — prosperity and good luck in their future activities.