The Dominican-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Tourism (CCTDS) has obtained institutional and private sector support to increase trade and investment between the Dominican Republic and Switzerland. This, after a first commercial tour, led by its president Gaetan Bucher, and which has been made up of an agenda of more than twenty-four meetings, in the cities of Zürich, Bern, Lausanne, Vevey and Geneva, with key leaders from the public sector, private and academic of the European country.
Bucher, signed an institutional agreement with Switzerland Global Enterprise, an organization that, on behalf of the Swiss Confederation and the cantons, promotes investment and entrepreneurship in Switzerland, to favor trade relations between the two countries. It is worth noting that both the Dominican Republic and Switzerland enjoy the benefits of multilateralism, since they are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this sense, within the framework of the WTO, they have certain obligations, such as the application of the principles of Most Favored Nation (MFN) and National Treatment reciprocally.
“Switzerland has become the second destination for Dominican exports, with a participation in exports of USD 1,036 M in 2022. This first agreement defines the next steps to increase business and trade in the Dominican Republic and Switzerland, through through an agreed strategy.
Meanwhile, Switzerland Tourism, the Swiss state corporation with the mandate to promote Swiss local and international tourism demand, and the Edelweiss airline, within the framework of analyzing different formulas to increase tourism in both countries, in both directions, recognized that the increase in the health of the Dominican economy facilitates relations in terms of tourism between both countries.
“After our presentation, the directors of Switzerland Tourism recognized that both the economy and the purchasing power of the Dominican population have grown substantially, so the possibilities for tourism in their two reciprocal pathways represent a great opportunity.”
With SERV Swiss Export Risk Insurance, an organization that supports Swiss companies in their export transactions and opens new markets for them, the technical aspects of guarantees for Swiss MSMEs that could export to the Dominican Republic were analyzed.
“The alliance with SERV represents great potential for both countries, since the Dominican Republic is an interesting export and investment destination for Swiss MSMEs that could take advantage of the country’s production and logistics platform within the Cafta-DR framework.”
Meanwhile, the Latin American Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland (LATCAM), a private, non-profit business organization in charge of promoting economic relations between Latin America and Switzerland, reached an agreement with Bucher to establish a cooperation framework between both institutions to increase trade and investment between the two countries.
In Bern, the Swiss capital, Bucher met with the Americas Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where he highlighted the importance of diversifying trade relations, beyond foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and cooperation technique between the two countries.
“Our conversation with the Federal Department of Foreign Relations revolved around the great growth that the Dominican Republic has experienced, being very impressed by the good management of President Abinader and his Team in consolidating the country’s leadership position in the region, and showing concern because of the political situation in Haiti.
Similarly, Bucher made a long presentation to the Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (SECO), the entity of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs for Bilateral Economic Relations with the Americas, in charge of planning and applying trade and economic policy measures, to analyze perspectives of joint collaboration, reaching interesting conclusions.
“In my presentation on bilateral trade and investment opportunities to SECO, we were able to determine the best strategies to catalyze the interest of the Swiss private sector in investing in the Dominican Republic, reflecting the country’s potential and the extraordinary management of President Abinader and his team. ”
Multinational
In his meeting with the multinational Nestlé, Bucher explored the creation of a global and local event on food safety and sustainability, to guarantee the quality of food in the coming years and to provide appropriate responses to the needs of future generations.
In the final part of his agenda in Switzerland, Bucher attended the 111th International Labor Conference of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, as part of the official delegation as adviser to the Minister of Labor Luis Miguel Decamps García, where the need for of the regulation of the relocation of work, as well as the importance of dual, technical and university education, as the success story of Switzerland.
This official visit to Switzerland is the culmination of the first phase of the positioning and growth strategy developed by Bucher during his eight years as president of the CCTDS, laying the foundations for the next phase focused on increasing trade and investment between the two countries. Thanks to Bucher’s leadership, the CCTDS is considered in Switzerland to be one of the most active binational chambers in Latin America.
“It is a great satisfaction to have led the CCTDS to be one of the most active chambers in the Dominican Republic. Our focus on adding value to civil society through the transfer of knowledge and international best practices is a solid foundation to continue contributing to the growth of both countries through increased investment and trade in both directions,” said Bucher.