River Limmat and the Minster bridge in Zurich. (source: ČTK)
one exception being a Slovak financial group which recently bought a Swiss private bank.
But the so-called Swiss Financial Mechanism is expected to provide a new impulse for cooperation between the two countries. This is money which Switzerland will use to support mainly the new EU member countries in exchange for access to the enlarged EU single market.
Machinery, chemicals, and the pharmaceutical industry have been traditional areas of cooperation between Slovakia and Switzerland, said Zlata Šipošová, commercial attaché at the Slovak embassy in Bern, Switzerland’s capital. Energy, transport, and the construction industry also have been important fields.
“Swiss experience in constructing tunnels has been used several times in Slovakia,” Šipošová told The Slovak Spectator. “Recently, a project to build a hospital waste incineration plant [in Slovakia] was completed as part of a Swiss development assistance project.”
Slovakia sees opportunities for future cooperation in the energy sector, for example, in technologies for using waste to generate energy and in the areas of hydro-electric and renewable energy production.
“Switzerland has the highest share of electricity produced by hydro-electric plants in Europe: 60 percent, which means it has a lot of experience in this area which we can use,” she added.
Switzerland is also considering building new nuclear power stations and is interested in Slovakia’s experience in energy market liberalisation, according to Šipošová. Tourism also offers more opportunities for cooperation, including investment in the construction of accommodation in Slovakia.
Over the last few years, the dynamism of business cooperation between Switzerland and Slovakia has become stronger, she said. Between 2000 and 2006 the volume of trade increased by 54 percent and Slovak imports from Switzerland increased by 86 percent.
