Seven decades and counting: India and Switzerland are best friends forever
On 14 August 1948, India and Switzerland signed the Swiss-India Treaty of Friendship. To mark the 70th year of this treaty, the Swiss embassy in Delhi recently hosted a special event and appointed five ‘Friendship Ambassadors’, writes Bulbul Sharma.
said Maim, who is currently based in Bangalore.
The duo Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, now Friendship Ambassadors, co-founded an architecture platform, urbz platform. In their acceptance speech they shared their thoughts on the enriching experience of continuously moving between Switzerland and India.
Echanove said, “We feel that by moving from one to the other place, and with a team which itself is moving back and forth, we get inspiration from both places which makes it much richer.”
Adding to this trail, Srivastava said, “Every active circulation adds to our work experience. We go back to Geneva with something new and we come back to Mumbai with something new. This circulation is something which we value and cherish a lot.”
The focus of the initiative majorly lies on the Swiss diplomatic network in India, which is endeavouring to bring together young Swiss and Indian minds that will have a bigger role to play in the near future. Continuous substantial contribution to multi-sectoral cooperation between the two countries in several areas like economy, education, trade and business, training, culture and migration is also a priority.
Additionally, the emphasis is on creating opportunities for innovation in business, research and technology, in the fields of governance, art and social inclusion.