Japan and Switzerland, two small countries in the East and the West, have recently been the object of world mass-media crossfire; the one with its financial debacle, and the other for the Holocaust gold. Both countries were labeled as 'the origin of evil '. Many books and essays, criticizing these countries became best-sellers. As a matter of fact, , worthwhile to be analyzed in detail. To pick up the main issues;

1. Both countries are 'isolated islands'; and, as a result, both are actually facing a similar kind of historical crisis.

2. Neither of them has substantial natural resources at their disposal. Their world top level living standard is the fruit of diligence, perseverance and a strong awareness of ethical values. Both countries have practically no strikes, the longest working hours and the shortest holidays.

3. Both countries assure their world leading position in high technology. Student exchanges between the two countries are very frequent. Many Japanese researchers, as well as future executives, have studied in Switzerland, such as Dr.Fukui and Dr.Tonegawa, both Nobel prize holders at the Biochemical Institute in Basel, as well as Mr.R.Hattori, defunct ex-president of SEIKO at ETH. Many students are currently studying at ETH as well as at EPFL.

4. Both nations are reserved and uncommunicative.

5. Both nations are reputed to be double-dealing, in certain ways. On the one hand they have a most liberal attitude as far as external trade is concerned. On the other hand, they have innumerable regional regulations to be observed for internal affairs.

6. Both societies are based on the terms of goodwill and friendly understanding; there are practically no strikes.

7. The industry of both countries is reputed to be the first class wordwide, whereas the performance of their politicians is rather far away from this category. Looking at Japan, the OBUCHI Cabinet, which was so intensively criticized by the Japanese media as lacking in charisma, and conviction to confront the financial crisis, now seems determined to carry out a fundamental reform in the Japanese society, by putting 60 trillion yen of budget at the disposal of the nation to re-vitalize the economy, and to do so in a complete and thorough manner. For the very first time,many people starts to think that something is indeed happening….

On the other hand, Switzerland had a very long nightmare throughout last year; it was attacked most fiercely by various parties in the US including the World Jewish Congress as well as the US Government. UBS affair was the largest financial debacle of the century , and there were also other various decisive mergers and re-structuring measures in various fields of industry. What are the key issues Switzerland is facing right now?

In politics, the fundamental renewal plan of the governmental system announced by Minister Koller is currently under debate at the special committee until end March. The idea is to completely review cabinet composition and to have a dedicated President for a 2-year period, and to nominate5 to 7 Federal Ministers (Bundesrat, Conseil Federal) 15 Ministers for specific tasks (15 is the number of fundamental sectors designated by the EU). This is indeed a true revolution, as it will basically undo the system in existence based on consensus, since the actual Constitution came into effect since 1848,. Simultaneously, due to the remarkable increase of power of the People's party (SVP, or UDC in French, originally the farmer's party) lively discussions are being held at the parliament to put an end to the so-called 'magic formula', in which 7 Federal Ministers are nominated by main 4 parties at the ratio of 2:2:2:1.

In the social sector, the key issue is how to handle the ever increasing permanent deficit of various welfare systems. Next month, one of its basic issues,the maternity insurance system will be voted on by the people. Last year,Mrs. Dreyfuss, the Minister in charge, was very often put on the spot, not being able to maintain a balance between different political parties and the people's opinion. It is indeed the most important task of the Government to issue a convincing guideline in the course of this year. As for the financial sector, the most important problem is how to decrease the accumulated Government' s debt which is reaching the 100 billion level.

Fortunately, Switzlerland has a very competent person in charge, Minister Villiger who was a shrewd businessman with brillant truck records. He seems to control the situation with the assistance of a Round Table, a group of 34 prominent persons from various industrial , political and academic sectors.

Looking at the infrastructure related sector, the Government made a breakthrough last year by concluding the Bilateral Negotiation with the EU. It simultaneously obtained the consensus of the people on the NEAT plan, the alpine north-south transport system renewal plan with a budget of 30 billion, which was in fact the key issue in bringing the negotiation with the EU to a success. As a result, over 100 construction sites will be activated, bringing decisive contributions to the vitalization of the country's economy, and to the unemployment problem.

In the economic sector, with the birth of NOVARTIS, the new UBS etc., the thorough re-structure measures of the country seems to have finally come to an end . In parallel, remarkable increase in high-tech oriented small and medium companies, whose presence is indeed part of the most fundamental strength of the country, was made possible through impressive number of newly created venture capital based companies. This is again a decisive fact for the country, which has been suffering badly for several years from the 'exodus of brains' to other more promising places, such as Silicon Valley .

Above are the keywords on Switzerland facing the new century. Looking at them in details, the similarity between the situation in this country and that in Japan is indeed remarkable. In the past, Japanese politicians completely failed to recognize such important facts on Switzerland, and only showed interest to maintain contacts with leading countries, but in most cases this was a 'one-sided love' !! Practically, no significant contact have ever existed between the two Governments at the top level, and neither of the embassies dispose of a number of specialists, having perfect knowledge of the other's language and culture, as it is the case with embassies of US, Russia. France etc.

Thus, it is in fact the high time for both countries to review such situation, and mutually endeavour to take advantage of each other's unique and strong feature. By unifying such synergy, both country will be able to project their positive new image in the world of the 21st Century.

(March, 1999)