OREANDA-NEWS. The National Pavilion of Switzerland is one of the most impressive in terms of design and diversity of exhibits at the Metalloobrabotka"2014 International Exhibition. The show - taking place from 16th to 20th June at Expocentre Fairgrounds, Moscow - is being attended by over 1000 companies from 37 countries.

Speaking at a press conference at the Swiss National Pavilion Pierre Helg, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Russian Federation, said that over 40 Swiss companies were presenting their innovative projects, technologies and equipment at Metalloobrabotka"2014. He added that a considerably increased number of Swiss companies from the manufacturing technologies sector attending the show was a great achievement and even more so, considering the bicentenary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Russia which the two countries were celebrating in 2014.

The Ambassador stressed that the Russian market was key for the Swiss manufacturing technologies sector, being the sixth largest export market for the products of the sector. In 2013, the value of its export to Russia had been 150 million dollars. The Ambassador added: "Companies of the Swiss manufacturing technologies sector are reliable and strong partners of Russia in modernizing its industry. They are interested in investing in long-term business relations with Russian manufacturers".

As an example of successful joint project he mentioned The Russian-Swiss Competences Centre for Microprocessing Technologies set up on the basis of Moscow State University of Technology STANKIN. The key objective of the Centre is to enhance modernization of the Russian machine engineering sector and development of the Russian machine tool industry using advanced Swiss technologies and equipment, as well as to improve the quality of training for Russian specialists of the manufacturing technologies sector.

The Swiss partner of Moscow State University of Technology STANKIN is Galika AG - a major engineering company introducing the latest Swiss-developed equipment and innovative solutions into various manufacturing sectors of the Russian economy, the economies of the CIS and European countries.

The press-conference at the National Pavilion of Switzerland was also attended by Michael Hauser, a Board Member of Swissmem - a leading Swiss industry union, and CEO of Tornos SA - a manufacturer of high-precision metalworking machinery. He was joined by Sergei Grigoriev, Rector of the MSTU STANKIN, and Daniel Erni, Director of Galika AG. They all were very optimistic about the prospects of expanding cooperation between Russia and Switzerland in the machine tool sector.