Swiss seek closer cooperation with South East Asia countries

Baeriswyl represented Switzerland at the meeting of foreign ministers of the ASEAN group of countries in Bangkok. Keystone/Sakchai Lalit

The secretary of state in the Swiss foreign ministry, Pascale Baeriswyl, has participated in a meeting of foreign ministers in Thailand to boost cooperation with ten countries in south-east Asia.

She attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding to help disaster risk reduction as part of its cooperation with a regional coordination centre for humanitarian assistance on disaster management.

“Cooperation with ASEAN helps Switzerland to achieve a greater impact in areas that are important to us, including climate change and disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, vocational skills development, and peace and human rights,” Baeriswyl is quoted in a foreign ministry statement on Friday.

The intergovernmental Association of Southeast Asian Nations is Switzerland’s most important partner organisation in the region.

Before travelling to Bangkok, Baeriswyl was in Cambodia where she visited projects by the Swiss development agency and met representatives of victims’ organisations and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

In the capital, Phnom Penh, she also took part in the opening of the Kantha Bopha heart clinicExternal link, which is affiliated with the children’s hospital that was founded by the Swiss doctor, Beat Richner, in 1992.