More wine from Switzerland served at Swiss embassies: the FDFA's success in promoting Swiss wine
Bern, 04.02.2015 - In 2014 about three times more Swiss wine was served at events in Swiss representations abroad than just two years before: in 2012, 2,926 cases of Swiss wine were shipped to the embassies, while last year the figure increased to 8,555. The arrangements for supplying the representations were changed by the FDFA in 2013, with the aim of promoting Swiss wines abroad, and the results show that this has been successfully accomplished.
Staff of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) posted abroad may serve alcoholic beverages of their choice at official receptions. In practice, mostly Swiss wine is served on such occasions. In order to better promote Swiss wines, the FDFA introduced a new concept in June 2013.
According to this concept, the FDFA covers the transport costs and pays for the wine in advance, rather than reimbursing the costs following the consumption by the representations. Staff with representational duties can order bottles from a wide range of wines from every wine-growing region of Switzerland.
Judging by the number of cases of Swiss wine (each with 6 or 12 bottles) sent to the representations abroad, the new concept has proved to be a success: while in 2012 a total of 2,926 cases of Swiss wine were sent to the Swiss representations abroad, almost three times as many were delivered in 2014: 8,555 cases in total.
In December 2011 Parliament had instructed the Federal Council to issue clear directives to the effect that the diplomatic representations of Switzerland and official receptions in Switzerland and abroad serve Swiss wines exclusively (Darbellay motion), and that Swiss wines should also be served at major events with participation of Switzerland and at Swiss official events abroad funded by the federal government (Hurter motion). The increased selection of Swiss wines served at events in Swiss representations abroad shows that this was successfully implemented.
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