Selected results 2016

Through its international cooperation work, Switzerland is active in a number of countries for sustainable economic growth. SDC and SECO projects and programmes achieved a wide range of outcomes in 2016.

Latin America

Within the scope of support under SECO’s National Competitiveness Agenda 2014–2018 in Peru, the Secompetitivo programme helped create 68 jobs and safeguard 3,124. The majority of these jobs were in the cocoa, banana and quinoa value chains. The Secompetitivo programme provided beneficiaries with qualifications and technical support.

Asia

In Vietnam, the time it takes to register a new business was reduced from five to three days in 2016. A total of 91,765 new businesses were registered during this period. The government considers this result a headline reform in the national administrative reform programme and its promotion of e-governance. The integration of legally binding data in the national business registry database has significantly increased overall transparency.

Central Asia

In 10 years, Switzerland has supported water user and smallholder farmer associations over an area of more than 106,000 hectares in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Water losses in the main pipelines were reduced by half, from 25% to 13%. The water requirement per hectare was reduced by 50% in Tajikistan and by 18% in Uzbekistan. Crop productivity increased by more than 20% in the regions that received Swiss support compared with those that did not. Conflicts between farmers over access to water were also substantially reduced thanks to better organisation. 

Global

Switzerland is a contributor and board member of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a global climate fund created to respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development in developing countries. In 2016, the approved funding decisions amounted to USD 1.3 billion. The fund strives to enhance the involvement of the private sector in order to mobilise additional climate financing.