Honorary consul to Argentina wins expat award
Switzerland’s honorary consul to Argentina, Hans Rudolf Würgler, has been awarded this year’s Swiss expatriate prize.
He was chosen from among 25 candidates for the award, which is worth SFr10,000 ($7,800).
The jury said Würgler was given the prize for his tireless work on behalf of the people in Argentina’s rural Misiones province.
Würgler and his Swiss wife were praised for their work in setting up the Instituto Linea Cuchilla – an agricultural and technical school – which the jury said was one of the foremost social institutions in Argentina.
The panel also congratulated the 67-year-old Würgler for taking on the role of spokesman for expatriates living in Argentina.
Expatriate community
According to the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, the Swiss expatriate community in Argentina numbered 14,631 people.
Würgler, who was born in Misiones, became a correspondent for the Swiss embassy in Buenos Aires in 1980.
Ten years later he was officially appointed honorary consul by the Swiss government.
Würgler’s prize was handed over at a ceremony in Basel on Thursday, which was attended by Switzerland’s ambassador to Buenos Aires, Armin Ritz.
The prize, which is sponsored by Switzerland’s centre-right Radical Party, has been awarded annually since 2002.
The previous winners were Raymonde Berthoud in 2002 and Linda Geiser in 2003.
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