Ogi ends China visit with cultural respite

The Swiss president, Adolf Ogi, is attending a variety of the cultural events to mark the 50 years of diplomatic relations between Berne and Beijing, at the close of a three-day trip to China.

After holding talks with Chinese leaders, Ogi stopped in Shanghai before travelling to Australia for the opening of the Olympic Games on Friday.

His cultural programme included a performance of The Magic Flute by the Zurich Opera. Other highlights were jazz music from the Robi Weber Quartet, as part of the Swiss Food and Culture Week.

The event, organised by the Hotel Sofitel with the support of Zurich Tourism, runs until Sunday. It will overlap with a Switzerland 2000 exhibition, from Thursday until Saturday, where leading companies and organisations, including swissinfo, will promote their products and services.

The exhibition’s other main attraction is snow. Visitors will be encouraged to touch it, while children will be able to throw snowballs and ride on a toboggan.

As well as promoting winter tourism, the three-day exhibition will also provide information about life in Switzerland, which will be presented as a modern democracy with a highly developed economy and a competitive hi-tech sector.

An electric train will showcase Switzerland’s public transport system and Swiss concern for the environment.

Other planned events include conferences by the Swiss balloonist, Bertrand Piccard, who last year managed to complete the first non-stop round-the-world flight. The Chinese authorities made Piccard’s achievement possible by giving him permission to cross China’s airspace.

swissinfo with agencies