Switzerland willing to support Moldova in coordinating foreign assistance

Chisinau, 29 September /MOLDPRES/ - Secretary General of the Government Serghei Palihovici today had a meeting with Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine and Moldova Christian Schoenenberger in the context of the end of the mandate of the Swiss diplomat in Moldova, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

The ambassador was accompanied by his deputy, Christoph Spati, Cooperation with Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Division Head Barbara Boni and Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova Simone Giger.

The officials discussed issues related to achieving the government's reform agenda, the current state of the bilateral cooperation and the objectives of expanding the areas of cooperation between the two countries. In particular, they discussed the activities of managing and monitoring foreign assistance, the State Chancellery having an important role in this regard. Ambassador Christian Schoenenberger noted the importance of an efficient interdepartmental coordination, confirmed the Swiss Confederation’s readiness to support this activity and called for the continuation and amplification of the Moldovan-Swiss partnership.

The secretary general of the government noted that the objectives of the Moldovan Cabinet complied with the provisions of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement and the assistance of development partners, including of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), come to support this process. Serghei Palihovici said that an important objective to this end was making public service more efficient by promoting the public administration reform, which includes the functional analysis of central public administration institutions, improving collaboration of central and local authorities, decentralisation, encouraging local autonomy, delegation of powers, and providing effective administrative control.

Another aspect of the discussion was the assistance of Switzerland on the migration and development segment, including in the process of developing the Diaspora 2025 Strategy. In this context, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova Simone Giger presented the draft of the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed within the SDC Programme for Moldova in the field of migration and development to the secretary general of the government. Sergei Palihovici confirmed his participation in the Programme Coordination Committee.

(Editor A. Raileanu)