Switzerland Prioritises Development Cooperation for Vietnam

Initiated in 1992, Switzerland’s development cooperation in Vietnam has become the foundation for both sides to foster bilateral relationship, which has been firmly strengthened by sustainable development approaches such as professionalism, continuity and neutrality.

 

Vietnam is a priority recipient for Swiss official development assistance (ODA) and nearly US$370 million, mainly non-refundable aid, has been provided to the Asian country into core fields such as local governance, agriculture and food security, policy framework, sustainable trade and investment promotion, public financial management, banking and SME support with a special focus on labour issues, competitiveness, and environmentally-friendly production and consumption.

 

Two Swiss agencies work on ODA in Vietnam, the Swiss Agency for Development (SDC) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). Both are represented by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Vietnam (SDC/SECO) and provide complementary technical and financial assistance to Vietnam in their respective fields of competences.

 

In public administration reform, SDC is a pioneer in establishing “single-window” mechanism, a concept that has become mainstreamed in Vietnam in the past years.

In institutional capacity building and trade promotion, SECO has taken the lead in this area by supporting the establishment of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade - under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) and sent high-profile Swiss experts to assist the progress of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession and execution of WTO commitments.

 

In cleaner production, SECO in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), which carry out the project of establishing the Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre and supported the Vietnamese Government and private sector in engaging the concept of cleaner production. Today, according to Vietnamese Green Growth Strategy, cleaner production is crucial and essential for expansion.

 

Especially, in the 2013 - 2016 phase, Switzerland pledged a grant of US$136 million of ODA, up 50 per cent from the 2009 - 2013 period. The Swiss Cooperation Programme has taken into account the rapid socioeconomic development of Vietnam over the last 20 years, including its remarkable success in alleviating poverty, as well as joint project experiences and lessons learned from the carrying out of the cooperation programme in the past.

 

In the 2013 - 2016 phase, Switzerland has changed the emphasis to more economic cooperation and development. We have foreseen a robust expansion of the Economic Cooperation and Development Programme (SECO) to support Vietnam in its effort to attain inclusive and sustainable growth. Of the total funding of US$135 million in the phase, SECO indicatively disbursed US$110 million.

 

Five core fields of the Swiss Development Cooperation are covered by the new Vietnam Country Strategy in 2013 - 2016 and the SDC Mekong Region Strategy: Focusing on sound economic framework conditions with macroeconomic management, trade integration and improved business environment, strengthening competitiveness of SMEs, environmentally friendly policies and sustainable production and consumption. SDC has focused on local governance and citizen participation, as well as agriculture and food security.

 

SECO’s programmes have become more stable and more focused over the time. It has approximately 40 ongoing projects in Vietnam and several projects are in consideration with the complementation of SDC projects.

 

Vietnam will continue to be a priority recipient of Swiss ODA with a focus on economic development cooperation. Vietnamese SMEs will see a diversified SECO support programme towards higher-value products and services. Swiss agencies also closely cooperate with a wide range of partners, including ministries, provincial administrators, multilateral organisations, businesses, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and research institutes to deploy cooperation programmes with Vietnam.

 

Swiss ODA is closely tied with development priorities set by the Vietnamese Government. Switzerland has a sophisticated and well-tested mechanism to strictly manage, monitor, and evaluate how well Swiss ODA is used and implemented in partner countries.

 

Vietnam is committed to effectively using Swiss ODA-funded projects. It expects Switzerland to accelerate the implementation of investment projects to help Vietnam utilize the modern machinery and technology and advanced management skills of Switzerland to promote bilateral economic cooperation.