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INTERNATIONAL

economically advanced, like the GCC countries. Then you have and prospering, you don’t want to go to a war.
Arab countries that are economically not doing so well, and are And one can realistically hope that this will be
facing many challenges, including unemployment. Then you have the case. As they say, trade is no guarantee for
the least developed Arab countries and Arab countries that are in peace, but trade is a catalyst for peace.
conflict, what we call fragile and conflict-affected states.
Despite the hardship that your region has
All of these countries have some common needs, but also some been facing lately, are things moving – young
differentiated ones depending on their specific economic situation. people, new initiatives?
You know, I’ve been living in Switzerland for
Let’s take a company from Switzerland that would like to invest in more than 20 years, right? And every time I go
the Arab state. They come and talk to you, they ask for advice. Are back home, I am pleasantly surprised by the
you a kind of advisory board that is charging for this, or is it free younger generation. When I left, I left people
of charge? at a different level of technical knowledge and
At the moment, we do it free of charge, but you have to be a member awareness. When I go back home now and see
of the Chamber. For instance, the company that was here before these young TikTok generations, you can talk
you arrived wanted advice about the investment opportunities in to them. They are ahead of so many of us, the
the region. We spoke to him and I asked if he would like to become older generation. They know a lot about what
a member of the Chamber. If he does I will be able to focus on is happening around them and in the world.
him. Otherwise, if he is not a member, and I have other members And you can see the influence of everything
who have already requested information or service from me on on them – technology, media, knowledge.
other, different issues, I need to focus on them. The members are
our priority. I encourage all Swiss and Arab companies to become We might sometimes think they are not
members of the Chamber so that they can benefit from our serious, but when you talk to any of them, you
services. are surprised by the level of knowledge they
have. And they are talking a language that is
There is a huge interest today from the Arab countries in the for us, and we must bring them along.
Chamber’s work, especially since a lot of Arab countries now are
moving towards economic diplomacy. You asked me also earlier what I want to do.
One of the changes I want to bring to the
Economic diplomacy? Chamber is to include the younger generation
Yes, economic diplomacy now is a big issue, not only in the region, but in our conversations. I think it’s very important
also in the world. That’s why they are focusing more on investments, as part of my mission here in the Chamber, to
trade and economy, and not only on the political issues. include women and youth in our initiatives.

I know that trade for peace is an area that you’re very focused on. They are the future! We talk about them,
Could you please tell us something about this? but we don’t include them. I attend a lot of
It is a topic I’m passionate about because we have countries in the meetings in Geneva. People talk about the
region that are affected by conflicts, and I have joined the “Trade for youth, but, wherever I look in the room, there
Peace” initiative at the WTO . This is a program that WTO started, is nobody young! I see the influence of youth
and I want to thank them for including me. in different parts of the world. It’s amazing.
You know, a young man in any part of Arabia,
I have participated in some of the activities since they started, he will be talking to a young man in Sweden, in
and I continue my cooperation with them. As you know, we have Germany, in Switzerland. They influence each
a number of Arab countries that are involved in conflicts. I think other and are following trends that we know
this initiative is important if we as a Chamber together with the nothing about. You have to follow the trends
WTO and other international institutions can support this trend of to know what is happening. They influence
promoting trade to achieve peace. the media, they influence the thinking, they
influence the decision making.
When people stop fighting and start trading and see the benefit of
trade, they do not want to fight. They will not want to harm their I’ve been in the Arab world, and they say that
businesses. They can see the benefit of being at peace. So, once you the information doesn’t flow, that people there
start trading, you promote peace, because once you are at peace don’t get the information, that we here don’t

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