A new Swiss Cooperation Stagey for the Republic of Moldova for 2018-202 was launched on April 18. The Government of Switzerland will allocate about €40 million for developing local governance, healthcare, the economy and the employment sector in all the country’s regions, IPN reports.
In local governance, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will contribute to creating more opportunities for women and men to take part in decision-making at the local level. On the other hand, the effective decentralization process will be supported and the local public authorities will be offered assistance in extending access to the necessary resources and in allocating them according to the priorities of the population. In healthcare, emphasis will be placed on primary medical assistance, promotion of a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention. The medical institutions and authorities will be helped to ensure equitable access to medical service at reasonable prices. In the fields of development and employment, the Swiss Agency will help to develop efficient market systems and to improve the investment climate so as to create attractive jobs and income generation opportunities.
Simone Giger, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova, said the new Cooperation Stagey is a follow-up to the support provided by Switzerland to Moldova, but is simultaneously a new start aimed at offering benefits to the population of the Republic of Moldova.
Krystyna Marty Lang, deputy state secretary and deputy head of the Directorate of Political Affairs of Switzerland, said she was able to visit the projects implemented under the previous Cooperation Stagey (2014-2017) and could thus discover the nice part of the country and the good things done until now. Last year, over 50,000 people got access to safe drinking water owing to Swiss support, while more than 22,000 persons now enjoy better sanitary conditions.
The Government’s secretary general Lilia Palii said Switzerland started to provide assistance to the Republic of Moldova in 2000. The annual assistance portfolio comes to about 15 million Swiss Francs. The Swiss assistance is centered on Moldova’s population and is designed to improve the living standards, to reduce poverty and to implement infrastructure projects for regional and local development.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Tudor Ulianovschi said the cooperation relations with Switzerland reached its apogee. Being one of the most developed countries in the world, Switzerland helps Moldova solve some of the problems and its assistance is aimed at improving the life of socially deprived groups of people and at supporting sustainable development.
Minister of Education, Culture and Research Monica Babuc said that since 2013 Switzerland started to support the cultural sector, offering support to a number of national projects. Switzerland contributed to developing vocational education, renovating schools and modernizing local infrastructure. It offered assistance in developing inclusive education and helped restore residential institutions. The Swiss state offers doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships in Switzerland.
Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Cebotari said numerous projects were implemented in such areas as primary medical assistance, disease prevention, promotion of a healthy lifestyle, medical services focused on the needs of the people and employment of young people.
Attending the event, Governor of Gagauzia Irina Vlah noted that the region was offered assistance in the health services sector, to improve the infrastructure in schools and a lot of kindergartens were helped to institute Gagauz language courses for parents and children. The new strategy also covers Gagauzia and this is good.
Barbara Boeni, Head of the Eurasia Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, said the transition to democracy and an open market economy in Moldova is a trip that still goes on. The new Cooperation Strategy will help continue on this path and the earlier accomplishments will be strengthened. The previous strategy laid emphases on the supply of drinking water, migration and development, health and quality of medical services. The health sector in the current strategy remains a priority, alongside the economic development, employment, attraction of investments and other areas.
The implementation of the Swiss Cooperation Stagey for 2018-2021 is coordinated nationwide by the Swiss Cooperation Office, which is the local office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the representative office of the Swiss Embassy in Moldova.
