Objectives, principles and recent developments of Swiss foreign policy

Abstract

As an introduction, let me immediately stress that Switzerland is a very much globalized country. Landlocked in the heart of Europe, with no commodities but water and stone, Switzerland became a high industrialized country and flourished only through the interaction with other countries and peoples. Out of 8 million inhabitants, the proportion of foreigners living in Switzerland is today more than 22%. Among them, the largest group are Italian, half a million, followed by nationals of Germany and Portugal. The large majority are European, while around 15% of the foreigners are non-European. Today, Switzerland has one of the highest GDP per capita. It is important to know that half of the wealth of Switzerland is generated through our interaction in the global economy. Just compare Switzerland’s 2011 GDP (USD 523 billion) with the export in the same year (USD 308 billion) to understand why free-trade is so important to us.