Switzerland is famous for its neutrality in foreign policy, especially non-involvement in foreign wars dating back to 1815. It is neither a member of the European Union nor the NATO military alliance.
But it knows right from wrong and, in Russia’s three-year war against Ukraine, has stood by Ukraine with annual bilateral aid of $25 million, additional amounts of humanitarian aid, active participation in peace-monitoring missions and its own sanctions against the Kremlin.
“We are neutral. That’s certainly a Swiss quality. At the same time, we respect and expect others to respect international law,” Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine Guillaume Scheurer told the Kyiv Post in an interview at the Swiss Embassy, which also houses his residence, in Kyiv.
“In the case of Crimea, the decision and the declarations of the Swiss government were fast and very clear that this (Russian) occupation has been made illegally, not according to international law. The same with respect to international borders. The same for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Switzerland has also adopted the same sanctions against Russia as the rest of the European Union – and suffered the consequences in terms of lost trade and investment with Russia. “They are completely in line with EU standards. Switzerland shall not be used to circumvent sanctions,” Scheurer said.
Switzerland’s Ambassador to Ukraine Guillaume Scheurer during an interview with the Kyiv Post at the Swiss Embassy and ambassador’s residence. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin).
Big investor
Just as importantly, Russia’s war has not deterred Swiss companies from doing business in Ukraine. Scheurer counts 100 Swiss companies active in Ukraine, providing $1.5 billion in cumulative foreign direct investment, usually ranking 8th or 9th among individual countries.
It’s an impressive number for a country of only eight million people that, nonetheless, is a European economic powerhouse. Switzerland boasted a gross domestic product of $662 billion in 2016 – at least seven times higher than Ukraine, accomplished with five times fewer people.
Nestle is, by far, the largest Swiss company in Ukraine, making chocolates and other food, employing 5,000 people – including 2,000 in Lviv.
But Swiss companies are involved in many other aspects of Ukrainian life, from innovative technologies (ABB) to pharmaceuticals (Acino, Sandoz), inspection of products for export (SGS), manufacturing of sanitary products (Geberit) and glass (Vetropack), health care (Novartis), shipping (Mediterranean Shipping Company), trade in agricultural products (Risoil, Allseeds), eye products (Alcon), iron ore production (Ferrexpo) and other sectors.
“This is a clear statement through the numbers that Swiss companies do believe in Ukraine and have been active for many, many years and continue to be,” Scheurer said, in contrast to other countries that stopped when Russia started its war against Ukraine in 2014.
Switzerland is among a group of non-EU nations including Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway that have a free trade agreement with Ukraine that went into effect on June 1, 2012.
Risoil’s case
But Ukraine’s hostility towards investors at home is harming its image abroad.
As Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was touting investment in Ukraine at a Jan. 17 meeting with Swiss President Doris Leuthard, Swiss agricultural company Risoil said it was facing illegal harassment from Ukrainian prosecutors.
The bogus case put plans for an additional $70 million in investment in “great danger,” according to a Jan. 30 letter from Risoil S. A. director Marc Gillieron to Poroshenko, asking for presidential intervention.
“All these events occured at a time when you, Mr. President, were attending the World Economic Forum in Davois (Jan. 17–20), trying to reasure the delgates of the European countries that the investment climate in Ukraine was improving and called on those countries to help Ukraine financially by investing in it,” Gillieron wrote.
Such shakedowns or state-sanctioned illegal raids on companies are a familiar story to many companies who consistently say that Ukraine’s corruption and lack of rule of law hinder the nation’s economy.
Without commenting on the merits of Risoil’s claims, Scheurer said that such complaints are noticed globally and hinder Ukraine’s ability to attract badly needed foreign direct investment.
“When there are cases of suspicions of raid or illegal activities, done by whoever it is – by Ukrainian citizens or Ukrainian authorities – this should be immediately investigated in bona fide. The reaction should swift and according to the rule of law,” the ambassador said.
Switzerland in January hosted a Swiss-Ukraine business forum in Zurich, timed for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, to help promote investment.
“Despite the good investment that I mentioned, there is nevertheless a lack of understanding about the new Ukraine among foreign investors,” Scheurer said. The twin themes were Ukraine’s “brain bank” – promoting information technology and start-ups – and the more famous “breadbasket” of the world, touting agricultural investments.
The response “could have been stronger” if not for some bad experiences in Ukraine among existing Swiss investors. He said investors want swift and sure justice “within the rule of law. Here this is sometimes, unfortunately, a question mark,” he said.
Big donor
Switzerland is also a major aid donor to Ukraine, committing $25 million a year over the course of a four-year program that ends in 2018.
The amount does not include additional humanitarian aid, mainly to the war zone. As a neutral country, aid workers operating under the Swiss flag can work both sides of the war, he said, giving Switzerland a more complete picture of the situation on the ground in the disputed Donbas.
“It sends an important message to work on both sides of the contact line. They are Ukrainians, part of Ukraine (even in separatist-controlled Donbas),” Scheurer said. “It’s a positive message of inclusion.”
The focus of the financial aid program includes peace-building, health care, energy efficiency and decentralization of government.
In these priority areas, “we see things are moving very much in the right direction,” Scheurer said. “We are very satisfied with the prime minister’s office and what he does and what the ministers are doing.”
Additionally, several Swiss nongovernmental organizations are active in Ukraine.
Those include: Help Point Sumy, with medical and firefighting assistance; Sunshine Kyiv, which provides education and entertainment to street children in Kyiv; Forum Ost-West, which delivers medical supplies to Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts; Ostchristiliche mission, which delivers food and hygient products to internally displaced persons; Innovabridge, which helps implement e-governance in eastern Ukraine; Skat, which assists in municipal governance; Swiss Church Aid, which raises money for IDPs; MSF Suisse, which provides medical help; and Handicap International Suisse, which helps people with handicaps.
Cultural events
Ukraine is celebrating the 25th year of diplomatic relations with many countries, Switzerland among them. Scheurer said a year-long series of cultural events, in Switzerland and in Ukraine, are planned.
“The idea is to promote values and principles,” he said.
Swiss community
The Swiss community is small in Ukraine, numbering only 300 or so people. But many of them can be found on the first Thursday of the month in the Golden Gate Pub or in one of Kyiv’s Swiss restaurants, including Le Komora on 2/4–7 Pushinskaya St.
Many more Ukrainians – some 8,000 – live in Switzerland, which also issues at least 10,000 tourist visas to Ukrainians each year.
While not part of the EU, Switzerland is part of the Schengen Zone that unifies travel rules for 26 European nations.
Scheurer said that Switzerland favors visa liberalization – meaning visa-free travel for Ukrainians for visits of up to 90 days – for Ukrainians this year.
“We do hope the visa requirements will be lifted,” Scheurer said. “We have no reservations at all. The political gesture should not be underestimated.”
