Category Archive: 3.) Swissinfo Business and Economy

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Sustainable investments boom in Switzerland

2022-06-09

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2022-06-09

The volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland increased by almost a third last year, reaching an all-time high of CHF1.98 trillion ($2 trillion). 

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Meet Yello, the techno aliens from Zurich outer space

2022-06-07

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Hailed as pioneers of techno music and still filling halls in the wake of a career spanning four decades, the Zurich duo has just won the Swiss Grand Award for Music. Speaking to SWI swissinfo.ch, they explain the secret to success: not to care about success at all. Boris Blank is the musical brains, but he confesses that he can’t read a score. Dieter Meier is the singer who learned how to sing on the job. Together they are Yello, probably the...

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Oerlikon to sell Russia business to local owners

2022-06-05

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2022-06-05

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statement released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company.

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The world is at a turning point, but it was business-as-usual in Davos

2022-06-04

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2022-06-04

It's easier to make lofty pledges about saving the world when the world isn't battling multiple crises. The World Economic Forum’s programme last week included the word “crisis” 42 times. Throughout the four-day event, "crisis" was uttered on panels on climate change, in interviews on the war in Ukraine, and in conversations on food shortages held around lavish buffet tables.

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Swiss set aside CHF100 million in Ukraine development funding

2022-06-03

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2022-06-03

The Ukrainian funds available to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for 2022 will not affect projects elsewhere, an official said on Thursday. Before the Russian invasion in February, the SDC had earmarked CHF25 million ($26 million) for development and cooperation projects in Ukraine; parliament has since boosted this by CHF61 million, SDC director Patricia Danzi said on Thursday.

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Swiss block re-export of armoured vehicles to Ukraine

2022-06-02

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2022-06-02

The Swiss authorities have vetoed Denmark's request to send Swiss-made armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) recently rejected Denmark's bid to provide about  20 Piranha III infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Swiss public television, SRF, said on Wednesday.

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Why young people no longer want to work in hotels

2022-05-31

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The Swiss catering industry is finding it hard to attract staff – apprentices included. Young people are turning their backs on the long and irregular hours that come with working in hotels. The Covid pandemic has not helped.

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China stalling on trade talks with Switzerland, say papers

2022-05-31

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2022-05-31

Switzerland wants to update its 2014 free trade agreement with China, but Beijing refuses to talk, owing to criticism of its human rights record, report the NZZ am Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers.

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Swiss supermarket products for children have too much sugar

2022-05-30

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2022-05-30

The overwhelming majority of products with packaging designed to appeal to children contain too much sugar, salt or fat, report Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung newspapers.

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Ukraine war hits supplies of food packaging material

2022-05-30

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2022-05-30

Switzerland is considering emergency stockpiling of plastic packaging as the Ukraine war brings a world shortage of packaging material, reports the NZZ am Sonntag.

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Economic divide: how equal is Switzerland’s wealth distribution?

2022-05-27

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2022-05-27

While the gap between rich and poor has been steadily widening in many countries, the situation in Switzerland has remained stable over the past decades, according to recent statistics. Yet while income distribution in the Alpine nation is relatively egalitarian, wealth is more concentrated in the hands of the rich.

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Switzerland and Germany seek to conclude gas solidarity deal

2022-05-26

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2022-05-26

Swiss and German ministers have agreed to negotiate a solidarity agreement to help each other with gas supply issues in an emergency. The announcement was made on the side lines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting taking place in Davos.

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How ‘Davos Man’ hijacked capitalism

2022-05-25

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2022-05-25

The global elite are gathering in the Alps this week for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. Journalist Peter Goodman, author of Davos Man, argues that these billionaires are a “separate species” who have become so powerful that they’re writing the rules for the rest of us.

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Russian oligarch ‘handed Swiss company over to wife’

2022-05-25

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2022-05-25

The effectiveness of sanctions against Russia have again been called into question as it emerged that an oligarch transferred his stake in a fertilizer company to his wife. The move has apparently thwarted European Union sanctions that Switzerland also enforces.

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Swiss banks rigorously implementing international sanctions on Russia

2022-05-23

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2022-05-23

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is unacceptable, and wide-ranging international sanctions have rightly been imposed in response to it. The Swiss banks support these without reservation, and are implementing not only the sanctions ordered by the Swiss Federal Council, but also those of international and supranational authorities and bodies.

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Switzerland ranked second-worst global facilitator of tax avoidance

2022-05-22

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2022-05-22

Switzerland has moved from third to second in an annual ranking of the worst global tax havens. Overall however, the country is going in the right direction, reports the Tax Justice Network.

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Complicity in crimes against humanity: court upholds charge against Lafarge

2022-05-21

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2022-05-21

A Paris appeals court has confirmed that the cement firm Lafarge must face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity over alleged payoffs to Islamic State group and other jihadist groups during Syria's civil war. Lafarge is now part of the Swiss Holcim cement group, which says it will appeal the decision.

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Swiss government presents plans to boost gas reserves

2022-05-20

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2022-05-20

The Swiss government has outlined its plans to boost gas storage capacity in neighbouring countries to secure supplies ahead of winter. Gas makes up roughly 15% of Switzerland’s final energy consumption and is mostly used for heating and cooking. Around half of this comes from Russia.

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Germany’s Scholz and NATO’s Stoltenberg to attend Davos WEF meeting

2022-05-19

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2022-05-19

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be among the leaders at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, which starts on Sunday after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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How canton Ticino became a democracy pioneer in Europe

2022-05-17

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History books often point to the second French Revolution in July 1830 as the start of a democratising wave that swept Europe, including Switzerland. What is often overlooked is the role of canton Ticino, which pioneered many of the ideas at the heart of these revolutions. --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on...

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