Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist January 2019 | Page 40

INSIDE EUROPE
use of the off ered guest status which did not include voting
or speech-rights.
But this self-confi dence did not last very long. In autumn
1973 the Western World was shocked by the price policy of
the OPEC. A radical increase in expenses for energy took
the breath away from European and American societies. A
deep economic crisis followed soon. Most wealthy states
felt the dependency on economic relations – also with the
poor of the world. Suddenly the NAM attracted international
attention the member states had never experienced before.
The group of states took their chance and demanded a “New
World Economic Order”. The slogan of the necessity of a
“North-South-Dialogue” made its way around the world and
with it, the economic relations had to be renegotiated on a
multilateral level. One big player became the UNO and the
NAM made use of this platform so they could infl uence the
general assembly by the creation of majorities. Switzerland
as a non-member of both had itself isolated and did not get
access to the ongoing debate. The foreign department realised
that it had been a failure to ignore the entry of former colonies
in world policy. The EPD complained that in many cases the
impression had been strengthened that “the rich”, among
them Switzerland, would underestimate the problems of
the “Habenichtse”, i.e. of poor countries, and would stay in
“distinguished distance”.
It speaks of Swiss diplomacy that they realised the damage
they had caused to their reputation in wide regions of the
world which were not part of the one dozen wealthy nations.
It also speaks highly of them that they refl ected their point
of view and took the initiative for a sharp reversal of foreign
policy. They seized the opportunity, taking part as guests at the
next conference of the NAM in Colombo in 1975. Thereafter
they declared in an offi cial note: “When neutrality allows us
to become fully associated with rich countries, we will now
also be able to simply listen to the debate of less favoured
countries”. This was the beginning of a successful restart,
especially when the delegate noted that debate and climate of
the conference were characterised by “unmistakable elements
of true democracy”. The reversal was nothing less than a
solid fundament for growing respect paid by the EPD for
this large movement that brought together so many people of
the world. In the end, the Swiss foreign policy accepted that
the NAM could be a forward-looking model for world-wide
neutrality which would limit the hegemony of superpowers
in East and West.
This shift strengthened the relations of Switzerland and
India. It was in the process of rethinking the Swiss concerns
against NAM when both countries decided to establish a
Privileged Partnership at the beginning of the 1970s. This
declaration was immediately tested during Bangladesh’s
struggle for independence when Switzerland maintained
India’s interests in Pakistan.
Both countries exchanged many high-level visits that
strengthened bilateral cooperation in the period after World
War Two. These visits included visits of prime ministers and
presidents, delegations from both Parliaments and delegations
of top managers of top companies on both sides. Mutual trust
led to a long list of support in matters concerning global
Prime Minister meets Alain Berset, President of the
Swiss Confederation in Davos, Switzerland
40 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 1 • January 2019, Noida