Ambassadors of the Benelux countries visit the Bankers Association – Liechtenstein
VADUZ – As part of their one-day visit to Liechtenstein, the ambassadors of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg also visited the Bankers Association on Wednesday morning. The focus of the meeting is the mutual exchange of ideas and opinions on current economic and financial issues. But the war in Ukraine was also a central topic of discussion.
As planned for a long time, according to a statement from the Liechtenstein Bankers Association (LBV), EU internal market issues and topics such as sustainability and digitization, which would significantly change and shape the financial sector, the economy and our society today and in the future, were at the top of the agenda at the meeting . However, with the ongoing Ukraine war, this and the human suffering it WILL cause has moved to the forefront of the meeting and discussion.
According to the statement, the delegations are both very concerned and strongly condemn the “unreasonable and unjustified attempted aggression” of the Russian Federation and the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine. In this regard, the interlocutors devoted part of the discussions to the implementation of the sanctions imposed on Russia.
Great interest in the FAST initiative
“The ambassadors from the Benelux countries are showing great interest in the so-called FAST initiative to combat modern slavery and human trafficking, which Liechtenstein intends to do and is supported by the Netherlands and the banking association, among others,” according to the LBV statement. “The two delegations also agreed that the social aspect will continue to gain in importance in the sustainability discussion, not least because of Covid and the current war in Ukraine.”
In addition, the LBV also took the opportunity to present the 2025 roadmap to the visiting delegation and how the banking center is getting fit for the future together.
“Continue meeting in future”
“It was our first meeting in this form. But we quickly agreed that we would like to continue and institutionalize these meetings in the future,” as LBV President Hans-Werner Gassner is quoted in the statement. “The frequent topics of discussion were a colorful bouquet and all topics that concern us all and we can only deal with them together and where dialogue and cooperation are absolutely essential.”