The remit of the Central and Northern Asia Section includes Afghanistan, a priority country for bilateral development cooperation, and Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), which is a priority region. It also includes programmes in Mongolia and some activities in China and North Korea.
Central and Northern Asia
In Afghanistan, SDC efforts focus primarily on access to basic services (such as education). It remains committed to evaluating any opportunities to support the restoration of peace and social cohesion. In Central Asia, the section partners with SECO mainly in the following areas: water, infrastructure, climate change, access to basic services, inclusive sustainable economic development and humanitarian aid. Until it ends in 2024, the programme in Mongolia will continue to focus on agriculture and food security, basic education and vocational skills development, and good governance.
The section also runs a development cooperation workshop with Chinese development partners. Projects in North Korea have been suspended temporarily following the closure of borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of the section's efforts are aligned with the objectives of the Swiss International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and incorporate gender equality/social inclusion and governance as cross-cutting themes.
