The Economic Cooperation and Development Division at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) is responsible for the planning and implementation of economic and trade policy measures with developing countries (economic development cooperation, the States of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (transition aid), and the new member States of the European Union (contribution to the EU enlargement). SECO is also responsible for coordinating Switzerland’s relations with the World Bank Group, the regional development banks and the economic organisations of the United Nations.

SECO has two main objectives: to support the integration of partner countries into the global economy, and to promote their sustainable economic growth, thus contributing to poverty reduction. In order to do this, SECO intervenes principally to promote stable economic framework conditions, to strengthen competitiveness and to support trade diversification, to mobilise Swiss and foreign investment and to improve the basic infrastructure. Particular attention is paid to questions concerning economic governance, the climate, energy and the environmental issues.

News

From seed to table: approaches for a sustainable global food system

Annual Swiss development cooperation conference The state of the Millennium Development Goals will be under review at the Millennium+10 Summit in New York in September. Fact: more than a billion people are suffering from hunger today. The world is still far from respecting everyone’s right to food. There are however approaches for a sustainable global food system that hold out the promise of development even for poor countries. This problem and ways to improve food supplies were discussed by Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey, State Secretary Jean-Daniel Gerber and SDC Director Martin Dahinden as well as other speakers from Switzerland and abroad at the annual joint conference of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Focus on Trade and Film Tanzania – The KILICAFE-Project (externer Link, neues Fenster)

SECO supports sustainable trade in Peru

As part of his economic mission in Peru, on 14 July 2010 the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Jean-Daniel Gerber, signed a cooperation agreement with Peru’s Foreign Trade Minister Martín Pérez on four measures aimed at promoting trade. The programme of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in the sum of 10 million Swiss francs intends to provide a permanent boost to the exporting skills of the Andean country, as a supplement to the Free Trade Agreement.

2009 Annual Report on Switzerland’s international cooperation: Development cooperation is effective

In the last five years 370'000 people have gained access to drinking water as a result of Swiss support. In Tanzania, where Switzerland is strongly committed in the health-care sector, child mortality has fallen by 40% in the last ten years. These and other results are presented in the Annual Report on Switzerland’s International Cooperation. In 2009, Switzerland channelled 0.47% of its gross national income to Official development assistance, placing it in the mid-range of OECD donor countries.

Switzerland to promote renewable energy sources in developing countries (03.06.2010)

[ Federal Department of Economic Affairs ]

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) will contribute USD 21 million to a programme promoting the scaling-up of renewable energy sources in developing countries, a decision passed by the Federal Council on 4 June 2010. The objective is to foster an eco-friendly energy supply through a series of investments, measures to improve the investment climate as well as private-sector incentives.

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Contacts

State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO
Economic Cooperation and Development
Evaluation and Controlling
Effingerstrasse 1
3003 Berne / Switzerland

Tel.: +41 (0) 31 322 14 98
Fax: +41 (0) 31 324 09 62

E-mail (externer Link, neues Fenster)