Switzerland doubles development budget for Vietnam

photo source : swiss-cooperation.admin.ch

At the launching ceremony in Hanoi on September 18, Samuel Waelty, country director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Vietnam said that over the next four years, special emphasis will be given to small and medium enterprises, to produce higher value products and services.

“Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the economy and create greater employment, this will be our area of focus in the coming time,” said Waelty.

Waelty also said Switzerland will continue to gradually shift its development programme on poverty reduction toward more economic development cooperation.

According to Andrej Motyl, Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam, Switzerland is a long-standing, devoted and “I believe also sophisticated and efficient partner of Vietnam.”

Nguyen The Phuong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment greatly appreciated Switzerland’s decision to increase its development grant budget and its move toward economic development.

Swiss development cooperation in Vietnam started in 1992 and has become a cornerstone in relations between the two countries.

Up to 2012, Switzerland has contributed CHF340 million ($360 million) to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and reform agenda.

Two Swiss Government agencies, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), provide complementary technical and financial assistance to Vietnam.

The total financial volume is budgeted to increase by 50 per cent compared to that of the previous four-year period, of which SECO will disburse CHF100 million ($106 million), and SDC (CHF23 million, around $24.3 million).

Switzerland will provide support in five main areas: sound economic frame­work conditions for inclusive and sustainable growth, productivity and competitiveness (also through better access to credit) of small and medium-sized enterprises, environmentally-friendly policies, local governance and citizen partici­pation, and agriculture and food security.

The Swiss agencies cooperate with a wide range of partners: ministries, provincial administrations, multilateral organizations, business sector, NGOs, academia.

Core fields of work are related to public financial management, the financial sector, sustainable trade promotion, labour and environmentally-friendly production and consum­p­tion, competition, access to finance, integrated urban planning as well as public administration reform, participatory planning,  and market access for poor rural households.