Report: Swiss Foreign Direct Investment in the United States

(the more recent 2015 report is found here)

Click to view/download the 2012 report on Swiss Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (PDF 4.2MB) 

An Evening with Arthur Cohn

On behalf of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Chapter, we cordially invite you to join us for Cocktails and Dinner on Thursday, February 24, 2011 for a special evening with International Film Producer Arthur Cohn. (PDF Invitation Flyer and RSVP)

Mr. Cohn will speak about his many personal experiences in Hollywood and the secrets which allowed him to build an extraordinary reputation for producing films of uncompromising vision and artistry.

Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Beverly Hills Hotel
9641 West Sunset Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90210

6:15 pm Cocktail Reception / 7:15 pm Dinner

Arthur Cohn is a cosmopolitan par excellence. Although many of his activities are based in Hollywood, the film producer lives in Basel, Switzerland. His success is legendary: He is the only film producer who has been the recipient of six Oscars (c A.M.P.A.S.) from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It is particularly significant that these awards cover the period of over four decades!

His movies – shot in New Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Shanghai, Brazil, Munich, Rome, Geneva as well as Philadelphia, Minnesota and New Orleans – bear witness to an intense humanity, to essential values and unique subject matters. In many of his films, he allows his audiences deep insights into children’s souls, their desires and their dreams.

Arthur Cohn has been honored all over the world: The University of Boston, with its 160 years of tradition, has bestowed him – a Swiss Citizen! – with the only title of an honorary doctorate given to a personality in the film business. He is one of the few Europeans who has his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame (in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel). The French Ministry of Education and Arts awarded him with the highest medal a non-French citizen can receive.

Cairo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, New York, Manila and Washington’s Kennedy-Centre have organized one-week retrospectives of his films. In Shanghai, an “Arthur Cohn Day” was created at the International Film Festival, which had its solemn opening attraction with “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” (being the first feature film on the Holocaust shown in China) and closing with “One Day in September” on the terror attack during the Olympic Games in Munich. The film “Central Station” was honored with the Golden Bear and the Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival and also received the Golden Globe.

Though Mr. Cohn spends the major part of his time in constant search of unusual subject matters for his productions, when he is asked for his secret of success, he consistently answers: “I will always remember my parents who passed their values on to me. They provided me with roots and wings; roots concerning human education, tradition, religion and tolerance; wings to leave tiny Switzerland and experience the world by creating my own dreams.”

Please join us and be inspired at a memorable evening.

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Thursday, February 24, 2011
6:15 pm Cocktail Reception / 7:15 pm Dinner at

The Beverly Hills Hotel, Rodeo Ballroom
9641 West Sunset Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90210

$79.00 per person (member)
$92.00 per person (non-member, BECOME A MEMBER)
No Host Parking

R.S.V.P. by Friday, February 18, 2011

Reservations received after 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 18, 2011 will be subject to a $25 per person additional charge, as counts and guarantees are due to the hotel on Friday, February 18th.

Phone: 626-974-5429 or return invitation via Fax: 626-974-5439
Email: saccla (at) aol.co

Dress code: Cocktail Attire

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In Memoriam…

Mr. Nicolas G. Hayek, Sr.

Nicolas Hayek, a visionary and a renowned figure behind the success of the ‘Smart’ car and Swiss Watch Company, passed away on June 28th. He unexpectedly died at the age of 82, as a result of a sudden heart attack that struck him at his workplace in Biel,… Switzerland. His funeral took place on July 3rd 2010.Mr.

Nicolas Hayek is known for saving the Swiss watch industry with the introduction of the “Swatch” an affordable and as it transpired, highly collectible wristwatch. It successfully debut in 1983 and gave him the nick name “Mr. Swatch”.Mr. Hayek’s next coup came with the birth of the “Smart” car. An automobile, that set new standards. It was tiny, compact and built to only fit two people. This modern city car helped users easily change its exterior colors.

The engine solution Hayek invented enabled the vehicle to provide enormous mileage. Hayek made a deal with Mercedes, but gave up on the business later as Mercedes refused to integrate the diesel-electric solution invented by Hayek. Unfortunately, these hybrid solutions have not made it to the present market yet.

The Harvard Business Review once described Mr. Hayek as a flamboyant figure with a roguish sense of humor. For us Swiss he will be remembered as a visionary and highly successful entrepreneur who also represented the Swiss country on many political fronts.

Mr. Hayek’s daughter Nayla Hayek has been elected as his successor and will head the company’s board.

Judith Ramseier, Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, LA