Swiss Spring Festival revels in UAE hospitality

Abu Dhabi: The annual Swiss Spring Festival in Abu Dhabi is a celebration of distinctiveness of Swiss culture, according to a top Swiss diplomat.

“Today’s evening is about Swiss interests at large whereby each and every one within the community stands for a culture with many facets, Swiss quality, a professional background and last but not least our way of hospitality. We are delighted sharing it with Emiratis and the truly cosmopolitan community,” said Andrea Reichlin, ambassador of Switzerland to the UAE.

She was inaugurating the Swiss Spring Festival 2013 on Wednesday evening in Abu Dhabi. It was the eighth year the festival was organised in the UAE. The Swiss Business Council Abu Dhabi organised the celebrations in cooperation with the embassy of Switzerland.

Swiss nationals in the capital enjoyed the colourful evening with family, friends and business partners. Visitors enjoyed Swiss culinary specialties like Raclette — a famous Swiss dish consisting of melted cheese on boiled potatoes.

The ambassador said she was delighted at the fact that the annual event had brought so many friends of Switzerland together. “Small is beautiful” stands in many ways for Switzerland and for its community in Abu Dhabi, she said.

“We are happy to see the Swiss community in Abu Dhabi is steadily increasing, reaching the mark of 400 members soon,” Reichlin said.

Jean Marc Suter, president of the Swiss Business Council, said the “Swiss atmosphere” at the festival helps bring the Swiss people and other communities closer.

Julien Antunes, 26, a Swiss national who just completed his bachelors degree in Abu Dhabi, said he enjoyed the special Swiss treats at the festival. Abdullah Abu Tahnat, 26, a Palestinian-American architect, said he attends the festival to meet his Swiss friends and forge new friendships. “I enjoy their company,” he said

The visitors enjoyed traditional Swiss music, too, with Ernst Baenninger playing the ‘alphorn’, specially flown in from Switzerland for the event.

The alphorn is a traditional wooden wind instrument with a long tube that rests on the ground and curves up at the end. It was traditionally used by Alpine herdsman to communicate across the valleys.