The Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce (SICC) is a key actor in promoting Swiss-Indian bilateral trade and investment. SICC is a bi-national, non-profit association, with over 350 Swiss and Indian members. It has offices in Zurich, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. The SICC has played an active role in promoting the 60 year jubilee activities in Switzerland and India. It initiated the idea of forming working groups in Switzerland and India to oversee and co-ordinate the various events in both countries. In its meetings, the working group members developled ideas and guided projects to fruition. The SICC Chairman headed the working group in Switzerland.
The SICC had itself implemented two projects in honour of the sixty year anniversary.
The first was a viewing of the Shiva Nataraj, followed by a gala dinner, celebrating Indo-Swiss business and cultural relations at the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, on November 7, 2008. Her Excellency Doris Leuthard, Federal Councillor of Switzerland and the new Indian Ambassador to Switzerland Her Excellency Chitra Narayanan were the guests of honour. The official unvieling of the Indo-Swiss vocational education and training program (VET inititaitve) took place at this event.
The second project is the above-mentioned VET. In honour of the friendship celebrations, SICC, together with a determined private sector, launched an initiative to implement basic elements of the Swiss dual-track VET system in India. The aim of this initiative is to cope with the shortfall of appropriately trained labour in India's industrial sector. The VET initiative combines technical coursewok in an academic environment with practical training on the factory shopfloor. The initiative has begun and is currently in its pilot phase.
For more information about the SICC and VET initiative, please contact Dr. Dorit Sallis; Executive Director at www.sicc.ch