On August 23rd, a day before Ukraine’s Independence Day, a significant panel discussion took place at DISPO in Nidau, a town near Biel in Switzerland. Organized by Stefan Dörig, an expert in the energy sector and a committed supporter of Ukraine, the event gathered around 60 participants.
The program started at 7 p.m. with a welcome address by the Deputy Ambassador of Ukraine. Benjamin Schenk, Professor of Eastern European Politics at the University of Basel, gave a brief lecture and then led the panel discussion. Joining him were the Deputy Ambassador, Andrea Zryd (SP National Councilor), Christa Markwalder (former FDP National Councilor), and Margarita Antoni from the Ukrainian Association Switzerland. The discussion was moderated by Tobias Graden from Bieler Tagblatt.
The main topic of the discussion was whether Switzerland is doing enough for Ukraine. Besides political and diplomatic aspects, economic exchange was also discussed. The Swiss-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (HSU) had the opportunity to present itself. As a board member of HSU, I, Roman Oeschger, was able to use this opportunity to briefly present our organization on behalf of the Chamber. HSU focuses particularly on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and aims to create trust and transparency.
In a brief presentation, HSU outlined the challenges, including issues with customs clearance and trust problems between companies. Despite these hurdles, HSU has already made progress and is steadily paving new ways for economic cooperation. The goal of HSU is to act as a bridge between Switzerland and Ukraine and continuously strengthen economic relations.
