A woman is making Aaruul, a much-loved snack that comes from dried curd, one of Mongolia’s many milk products. Although a high quantity of milk is produced in the country, long distances between producers and consumers mean that around 70% of milk consumed in cities comes from abroad. A litre of milk in Mongolia costs 2000 Tögrög (CHF1)
D. Davaanyam
‘Chästeilet‘ in the Justis valley, Bernese Oberland. A traditional farmers' festival in the autumn where cows are brought down from the Alps and the cheese produced over the summer is shared out between the cattle owners.
Christof Sonderegger/swiss-image.ch
Mongolia is located in a geographical transition region: the Siberian Taiga adjoins the steppe of Central Asia and the Altai mountains of the Gobi Desert. Mongolia is simultaneously the southernmost country with permafrost and the most northern country with a desert.
L. Elbegzaya
The Aletsch Glacier is part of a UNESCO world heritage site. This is the view from the Eggishorn (2869m) cable car station.
Max Schmid/swissimage.ch
Mongolian wrestlers measure their strength in order to be crowned Ulsyn awarga (national champions). Mongolian wrestling (Bökh) has been the country's most popular national sport since the 12th century. Swiss wrestlers (Schwinger) elect their king every three years.
B. Nyamgerel
Jörg Abderhalden (blue shirt) en route to becoming king of the Schwingers at the national championships in Lucerne.
Andy Mettler/Swiss-image.ch
Ice curling is a popular winter sport.
N. Bat-Erdene
Practice sessions and curling tournaments have taken place on the Al Parc rink in Engadine for more than 100 years.
C. Perret
Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, is a blend of tradition and modernity. It developed around a monastic centre in the 17th century and was called Ikh Khuree (largest monastery). The city gained its current name, which means “Red Hero”, during the time of socialism in 1924. Today it is full of contrasts: the centre is full of shopping centres with luxury goods and modern apartment blocks. On the edge of the city people live in poverty in a giant yurt (tent) settlement.
B. Tumurbaatar
The Old Town of Bern from the air.
Schweizer Armee - ZEM
Like in Switzerland, a third of Mongolia is covered in mountains – in the north, west and southeast of the country. Plateaus dominate the south and the east. Mongolia is one of the ten richest countries in the world for raw materials and has significant showings of copper, gold and rare earth elements. Khoridol Saridag (3097m) glows in the evening sun.
S. Tsatralt
Chaltenbrunnen above the Reichenbach Valley in the Bernese Oberland. A look at the Devil's Horns in the evening sun.
Roland Gerth/swiss-image.ch
Mongolia celebrates the national Nadaam festival every year from July 11-13. Traditional robes are worn during the opening ceremony.
D. Bold
Masked carnival revellers weave through Bern's Old Town filling the arches with the sound of "Guggenmusik".
Terence du Fresne/swiss-imsge.ch
For Mongolia's rural population, the nomadic rearing of animals is vital. A third of the population live from livestock. Currently more than 45 million farmed animals graze in Mongolia.
D. Davaanaym
Sheep in Sabbione in Bavona Valley, canton Ticino.
Roland Gerth/swiss-image.ch
Mongolia is one of the former Eastern bloc's transition countries. The first free parliamentary elections were held in 1990. Since then, Mongolians elect 76 parliamentarians every four years. This picture shows a vote being cast in a rural booth in June 2012.
D. Davaanyam
Voters in the commune of Bauen in canton Uri in November 2010.
Urs Flueeler/Keystone
An average shepherd family in Mongolia has four members and has an estimated income from livestock breeding of CHF220 a month. Half comes from cashmere wool. An average family in the capital Ulan Bator earns around CHF420 a month. The social divide between city and country continues to grow. In this picture, a shepherd milks a yak at the foot of the Tsambagarav, in Erdeneburen-Sum, Khovd-Aimag.
L. Elbegzaya
A farm on Unterchapf (1100m) near Hemberg in Toggenburg, eastern Switzerland.
Robert Boesch/swiss-image.ch
Fifty years ago, Switzerland opened diplomatic relations with the then People’s Republic of Mongolia. Ten years ago, it started development cooperation. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is marking this double anniversary with a photo exhibition on what links the two countries – and what separates them.
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Gaby Ochsenbein worked at Swiss Radio International and later at SWI swissinfo.ch from 1986 to 2018. She lives in Bern.
Mongolia and Switzerland have more in common than you might think: wild, beautiful landscapes which cover a third of the country, an appreciation of tradition and culture, and a strong affinity with nature.
But there are also differences: unlike Switzerland, Mongolia is a poor country with a high proportion of young people. More than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line – despite economic growth and a wealth of natural resources. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Mongolians live under extreme climactic conditions: in the summer it is brutally hot, in the winter temperatures can drop to an icy -40 degrees.
For the past ten years Switzerland has been contributing to tackling poverty in Mongolia as part of a development cooperation programme. The Swiss are also supporting the process of building up a democratic society in this former Soviet satellite state, in the midst of a transformation.
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