The inauguration was also attended by Swiss pioneer and Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, Bertrand Piccard. Piccard made headlines in 2016, when the Swiss solar aircraft, Solar Impulse 2, made a stop in Egypt before completing its first flight around the world.

SwissCham Egypt – the Swiss Egyptian Chamber of Commerce – is a non-profit organization serving the interests of Swiss and Egyptian business relations. At COP27, the SwissCham Pavilion showcases innovation in environmental preservation by the Swiss private sector.

Egypt is Switzerland’s largest export market in Africa, and Switzerland is Egypt’s 8th biggest source of foreign investment. In his opening remarks at the inauguration, President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis, emphasized the increase of local production by Swiss companies operating in Egypt, from the food and beverages to the pharma and the industrial sector, stimulating the development of a strong business community manifested in the newly established SwissCham Egypt.

Swiss commitment to cleantech = "swisstech"

The SwissCham Pavilion also features an exhibition on the Swiss cleantech sector. Switzerland strongly promotes sustainability and consistently ranks among the top 20 countries on the Climate Change Performance Index. President Cassis stated that, "more than ever, we are in need of practical solutions to reach our climate goals and reduce humankind’s environmental impact". He emphasized that "Switzerland demonstrates that it is committed to this objective, and that it is up to the task: our diversified and dynamic economy has a knack for finding effective solutions to complex problems – we have always encouraged innovation."

Innovative cleantech solutions are not only devised by big multinational Swiss companies but also start-ups and strong small and medium enterprises that make up 99% of the Swiss private sector, driving the industry’s successful growth. The "swisstech" exhibition serves to highlight some of those ventures in cleantech offering cutting-edge solutions in the areas of biodiversity, energy, mobility, waste and water.