Though 10,000 kilometers away, Shenzhen and Bern feel like a family

“Right after attending the High-tech Fair in Shenzhen, we then meet our friends in Bern from Shenzhen, our friend city. Though 10,000 kilometers away, Shenzhen and Bern feel like a family.”

Recently, in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, Christopher Ammann, member of the Cantonal Council and Vice-President and Director of Economic Affairs Canton of Berne, warmly welcomed the reporters of our newspaper. His kind greetings immediately drew our hearts closer to each other.

Christopher Ammann

Located in the middle of Switzerland, Bern is the second largest canton in this country, only next to Zurich. Bern, which has a history of over 800 years, is the capital of Switzerland, the center of politics and economy, as well as one of the world cultural heritages.

In February, 2015, Bern officially established a Sister Region Relationship with Shenzhen, becoming a friend region to each other, which is the first time for Bern to become a friend region with a foreign city.

In terms of the topics on cooperation and innovative development between these two friend regions, Ammann and our reporters had a wonderful dialogue.

Working with Bern helps Chinese enterprises to fit into international environment.

“In the world map, it takes a good while to find out where Switzerland is” Ammann jokingly said. Though Switzerland is a small country, it lies in the center of Europe. And it signed the free trade agreement with China years ago. Setting up companies in Switzerland means opening the door to the huge markets of Europe, and your products can be easily sold to every European country.

“If you come to Switzerland, you’re always welcome to Bern”, Ammann, of course, didn’t forget to advertise Bern. Bern, an international city with a long history, has enjoyed the geographic advantage, attracting world-famous enterprises and employees, scientists, researchers from all over the world. All these people with abundant globalized experience works closely with each other in an open and innovative style, which will greatly help China to fit into international environment.

“As the partner of Swiss telecommunication, Huawei puts its headquarter of Switzerland in Bern. You see how appealing Bern is now.” Ammann said with delight. Bern and Shenzhen share a lot in common. Both cities need to boost the cooperation in AI, precision manufacturing, medical technology and watch industry, mutually benefiting each other. Meanwhile, we still need to enhance the exchange and cooperation in colleges, governments and enterprises from two cities.

Shenzhen is a very charming and promising city, an ideal place for Swiss companies to invest in.”

   “Shenzhen is a very charming and promising city, an ideal place for Swiss companies to invest in.”Ammann spared no efforts to introduce Shenzhen as a friend region. “I have been to Shenzhen. It has a very good foundation of infrastructure, and is highly modernized with beautiful ecosystem. 

Ammann said that when he attended the High-tech Fair in Shenzhen this year, what impressed him most is the Shenzhen speed. “ I went to Shenzhen last March. This time I went through Hong Kong customs to Shenzhen and merely 1 year passed, I found Shenzhen has changed so much.” Ammann said. Those high-tech products like foldable mobile phones showcased in the High-tech Fair, left a deep impression on me. 

“Shenzhen sets a good example and becomes the development motivation for Bern.” Ammann said sincerely. As a friend city, the Shenzhen speed and the quality of its development have positive significance to Swiss government and enterprises, which facilitate us to cooperate with each other furthermore. 

  Ammann told our reporters, cantonal government of Switzerland has an economy promotion bureau. For now, it only has offices in Beijing and Shanghai where Swiss embassy and consulate are located, which is to promote the innovative cooperation between China and Switzerland. Next, we are considering setting up an office in Shenzhen to better push forward the communication and innovative development of these friend cities.

We Leave the best places to colleges

The old city, Bern, has many stony streets. No.49 in Kramgasee street is where Einstein used to live, and the famous relativity theory was born here.

Outside his old house and on the both sides of the street stand the ancient buildings built at the medieval century with non-stop fountain sculpture around and colorful electric bus running up and down.

How to deal with tradition and innovation in urban development?

Ammann took the partnership of Huawei and Swiss telecom as the example. He said, Bern is an old city with a long history, so it’s difficult for it to build signal towers. Both sides solved the problem with innovative ways, to build them beneath the roads, which not only solve the problem of signal transmission but also keeps its original style of this old city.

  “We leave the best places to colleges” Ammann said. In terms of innovative development and protecting the tradition, people play a critical part in it. People in Bern are willing to keep their tradition. In Switzerland, the development plan of its land and space worked out by each Canton government is strictly written into the laws, specifying which piece of land can be used for resident buildings, and which piece of land can be used for commercial or industrial purposes. No construction is permitted in protected zone and any industry is forbidden in city center.