Swiss seek to revive Silk Road

At a development aid meeting on Tuesday, Deiss said that the rest of the world has neglected Central Asia Keystone

After years of neglect, Afghanistan's northern neighbours stand to benefit economically as the United States seeks allies in its war against the Taliban.

For the past ten years, Central Asia has been one of the main recipients of Swiss development aid: the five former Soviet Republics of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have received some SFr180 million since 1993.

Now that the war in Afghanistan has firmly focused international attention on the region, the Swiss are hoping that efforts to overcome the Soviet legacy will start to bear fruit.

The Swiss view, articulated by the foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, at a development aid meeting on Tuesday, is that the rest of the world has neglected Central Asia and is only now starting to pay attention because of the war in Afghanistan.

The head of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), David Syz, told swissinfo that the challenges facing the countries are formidable.

“They have to build up a new government and create all their own institutions – their judicial system and so on – and this is not going very smoothly. And there is also the legacy from the former government which is not easy to overcome.”

Debt burden

Part of the problem, says Syz, is the countries’ huge debt burden, and their difficulty in attracting foreign investment. “All these countries are in debt and we have to help them get money and investment from third parties.”

Part of this assistance involves fighting the countries’ corner in international negotiations – four of the five republics, except Kazakhstan, are members of the Swiss voting group at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Swiss development aid is also focused on boosting trade between the region and the outside world. A key Swiss aim, says Syz, is to revive the old Silk Road that once carried goods from China to the west.

“One of the easiest ways to help these countries is to promote trade: This is an old tradition in these countries. The Silk Road was not only an exchange of silk between China and the western countries, but all along this road there were a lot of activities going on.

“What we are trying to do is revive this and to see what kind of goods they have and how they can sell them, and we are putting into place the infrastructure to facilitate this.”

For Syz, the recent interest in the region won’t affect what the Swiss are doing. “Switzerland has not changed its programme. We have been here for ten years and will continue our work, and we will not get mixed up with what’s happening on the military side.”

swissinfo