Officials welcome Kyrgyz prime minister
Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and senior Swiss officials received the prime minister of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday.
In a written statement, the finance ministry described the meeting between Merz, who also holds the finance portfolio, and Igor Chudinov, an ethnic Russian, as “friendly and constructive”.
The two discussed issues including bilateral relations, the financial crisis and development cooperation.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) operates in the central Asian country.
Chudinov later held talks with Calmy-Rey and Martin Dahinden, the SDC’s director-general, on joint projects with Kyrgyzstan.
Afterward, he agreed to a business development project aimed at the textile sector with State Secretary for Economic Affairs Jean-Daniel Gerber.
The project is being carried out with the International Trade Centre in Geneva and will run to 2012 at a cost of $1.85 million (SFr2 million).
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