Breakfast with the Swiss Ambassador to the UN

I had breakfast with the Swiss Ambassador to the UN, Dante Martinelli, on Friday. Mr Martinelli was talking about Switzerland's role as a host of the UN. The picture he painted made it clear just what hosting the UN means to the Swiss economy. The organisation works as a magnet for all kinds of UN agencies, international organisations, NGOs and ultimately commercial companies. Core to the UN in Geneva are, apparently, organisations such as WHO and UNAIDS.

Benefits for a host city
Ambassador Martinelli explained to the audience from the Geneva chapter of the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce that around these UN agencies there grows up international organisations, NGO's and businesses, which generate an estimated 17,000 jobs in the city. In the instance of the WHO these jobs come in organisations such as The Global Fund, a public/private organisation funding the fights against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria or the many pharmaceutical companies that view Geneva as a good place to be located.

You can add to that 17,000 the hundreds of thousands of visitors that the UN receives in the city each year, who, besides putting the world to rights, spend their time occupying hotel rooms, eating in restaurants, using conference rooms, taking taxis and buses and buying gifts for their friends back home. The importance of the many and myriad organisations that are found populating the UN extended family is something that would appeal to any city in the world. With all these great agencies doing so much work, you wonder whether they could do even more good if they were gathered in a city more proximate to their work and a country more in need of the spin-off benefits to be gained. 

Being the perfect host
Achieving host status requires plentiful infrastructure and influence on the world stage. Increasingly big cities in developing countries are making the point that they tick the boxes required of a host city. At the same time cities from the developed world are working hard to attract NGOs to move and boost their own economies. Lastly, of course, there is New York, which has proven itself as a host to UN type organisations. It would appear that Geneva has its work cut out in the competition to attract international organisations and the benefits that come with them.

Diplomats and commercial workers united
In his opening words the ambassador suggested that Geneva's two ex-pat communities, the commercial and the diplomatic, were just that, two communities. Mr Martinelli continued talking on the challenges of Switzerland being a host country to the UN, but his brief comments at the very start had caught the ear of his business audience. When the floor was opened to questions, the first asked what can commercial organisations do to bridge the gap between the diplomatic and commercial communities, whilst the two following questioned whether the privileged treatment of the UN contributed to the failure of the two communities to become one.

It was pointed out that the two communities are separated because whilst businesses move to Geneva and try to fit into the city by sponsor sports teams and cultural events, and because their ex-pat employees mix with local employees on a daily basis; the UN is elitist and doesn't mix with anyone.  In response the ambassador joked that the UN football team was definitely not elitist. Then in seriousness replied that whilst in history NGOs had been highly centralised and highly structured, in the future they will involve private firms working together with diplomatic organisations to a much greater extent. This sounds like a good thing for the people that receive the services of these organisations, but whether that is the solution for the city remains to be seen.  In the week that our diplomat neighbour moved home with her servant, the accusation of elitism levelled at the UN doesn't seem all that inaccurate to me, whether this is because of the particular attention UN employees get from the Federal government, however, remains an open question.