New York
Manuscrit, non publié à l’époque. Seul le prononcé fait foi. Les notes de travail ont été retirées.
Discours prononcé en anglais. Texte original, non traduit.
Mr. Bloomberg, I thank you for the kind introduction.
It is an honor to be here today with you and His Excellency President Peña Nieto.
Mr. Bloomberg, your testimony on behalf of a number of business leaders shows the relevance that migration has for successful business operations.
Business – and societies as a whole – depend on effective and transparent migration procedures.
This is the reason why we are standing before you. This year the United Nations negotiated the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Diplomats from Mexico and Switzerland had the honor to lead this negotiation.
With this, I take the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the Mexican President, His Excellency Peña Nieto, for the excellent cooperation on the Global Compact.
This Global Compact is a global effort of all the countries in the world – save one or two who disassociated themselves from the process.
It was the community of all governments, organized in the United Nations, that commissioned this Global Compact.
It is a great triumph of working together in multilateral diplomacy that these negotiations bore fruit in these trying times.
In fact, the text is the first ever such document in history.
The Swiss federal government has been supportive of the process of the United Nations to elaborate this Global Compact
and has engaged to shape an ambitious document with effective control and implementing mechanisms.
We all know: Migration is a complicated and at times controversial issue.
The politics of migration are full of temptations of romanticism,
protectionism,
chauvinism
and outright racism.
It is as difficult as it is necessary to insist on hard facts, and the Global Compact is an important new tool in this regard.
As we approach the formal adoption of the Global Compact in Marrakech this December, it is important to look ahead towards the next steps in this process.
Strong ownership and engagement of the private sector will be required if we want to make the Global Compact implementation a success.
On the ONE hand, there is clear evidence of the high disruptive potential of large-scale forced and irregular migration for different parts of the world.
On the OTHER hand, there are enormous opportunities still to be seized by the global economy. Today, international migrants make up 3.4% of the world’s population, but produce nearly 9% of its wealth.
My country, Switzerland, is no stranger to migration. One of three inhabitants of Switzerland are immigrants or descend from immigrated parents.
We have had our share of controversy about migration and there sure is more to come. However, I would like to tell you that – overall – migration has been good to us.
It was a German doctor who started to treat tuberculosis in the healthy climate of Davos (some of you might have heard about the place).
Another German immigrant, Heinrich Nestle later know as Henri Nestlé, came upon ways to conserve milk and laid the groundwork for the largest food and beverage company in the world.
Perhaps you are familiar with the Swiss watch “Swatch”– it is the brainchild of an immigrant from Lebanon.
These are some famous examples. But there are many others – less spectacular but not less important.
Without the foreign labor force, many industries in Switzerland would not function as they do now.
Some would even not function at all, such as the public health sector.
And we would probably not be as successful in football without migrants.
And it cuts both ways. 750’000 Swiss citizens, almost 10 percent, live abroad and contribute to their host countries economic well-being.
I am sure the name Chevrolet rings a bell. Louis Chevrolet was a Swiss emigrant from La Chaux-de-Fonds who first moved to France and then to the American Midwest. There he became a household name in the global automotive industry.
Migration – in a safe, orderly and regular manner – must be seen as an enrichment – economically and culturally.
I am sure that President Peña Nieto has similar stories to tell about his country.
Our two countries are very different, but we share common values:
Both of our countries believe in multilateral solutions to global challenges.
For this reason, we have closely worked together on the Global Compact for Migration and I extend my gratitude to Mexico once again.
Thank you.