Friendship 2008

Sixty Years of Indo-Swiss Friendship: Gala Evening in New Delhi

Report by Dr. Peter Oertli

Ustad Fateh Ali Khan & Eliane Burki  © Swiss Embassy

Chief Minister Ms. Sheila Dikshit  © Swiss Embassy

Switzerland was the first country in the world that signed a Friendship Agreement with independent India in 1948. On 14 August 2008, exactly 60 years after the signing of the Indo-Swiss Friendship Agreement, more than 300 guests from India, Switzerland and the diplomatic corps of many countries celebrated the Treaty at the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi. The outstanding Gala Evening for the

60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship between India and Switzerland

included three music performances of Shehnai by Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and a Swiss Alphorn performance by the famous young Swiss musician Eliane Burki.
The highlight of the evening was a unique Indo-Swiss dialogue between the two artists which turned into a marvellous "Fusion-Jazz" session.

The main speeches were held by:

1. The main guest: The Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms. Sheila Dikshit
2. The President of the Swiss Councillors of States, Mr. Ch. Brändli
3. The Ambassador of Switzerland to India, Dr. Dominique Dreyer
4. Swiss Astronaut Claude Nicollier on "Switzerland’s Flight into Space"
5. Presentation of the book of Friendship to Chief Minister Ms. Sheila Dikshit

"Friendship in Diversity: Sixty Years of Indo-Swiss Relations"
Edited by Bernard Imhasly, Universities Press (India) Private Limited, Hyderabad, 2008

This anthology in 5 parts contains 24 historical Indo-Swiss contributions. In chapter 19 (pages 1-8), you can see our part covering Peter Oertli’s youth in India from 1950-1953, when his father, Dipl. Ing. Fritz Oertli, helped build up Machine Tool Prototype Factory Ambarnath MPF for MOD on behalf of Oerlikon Machine Tool Works in Zurich:

"MPF AMBARNATH: A Milestone in Technological Cooperation"

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The Indo-Swiss Friendship Treaty 14 August 1948