March 2018

Festival de la Francophonie 2018

The Swiss Embassy in Armenia has contributed to the competition aimed at young Armenians learning French “Dis-moi 10 mots”, organized by the Embassy of France in Armenia and the Alliance Française on the 24^th of March 2018. Switzerland has rewarded the winners with three books: Eloge de la faiblesse (A. Jollien), Aline (C-F. Ramuz), Dictionnaire amoureux de la Suisse (M. Arditi).

The Embassy has also supported the production of the plays Amours chagrines, Adaggio and La Monstre by the Swiss author Emanuelle Delle Piane, which were performed at the GOY Theater in Yerevan on April 8 2018, under the direction of Ani Janikian and Samson Stepanyan.

Second yearly meeting of the Swiss Armenian Chamber of Commerce

The second yearly meeting of the Swiss Armenian Chamber of Commerce (SACOC) took place in Bern on 24 March 2018 and was attended by the presidents of both parliaments, Dominique de Buman and Ara Babloyan. Ambassador Gasser pointed out the stellar performance in our two countries’ trade relations in 2017, with a record volume 232.68 mln Swiss francs. In 2017, Switzerland traded more with Armenia than with the other Republics of the South Caucasus. 10% of the jobs created by Swiss investments are located in the high-worth sector of Research and Development. Connectivity, logistics, IT, pharmaceutics and other opportunities of the Armenian economy are promising for the years to come. Switzerland hopes for a continued stable and business friendly environment such as the one that Armenia enjoys since 2016.

Embassy of Switzerland donates thermal cameras to MES

In August 2017, the sky of Yerevan got covered by huge plums of black smoke, when the Nairit chemical plant caught fire. In the aftermath of the fire, Switzerland quickly replied to an urgent request of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of RA to the United Nations. Our government assisted Armenia by covering the costs of the Swiss expert, who professionally assessed the situation and provided recommendations.

Following up on a recommendation of the three-member international expert group, the Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia took the initiative of providing the Ministry with two FLIR 50 compact thermal imaging cameras. These highly sophisticated cameras allow a thorough control of the temperature of chemical processes such as happened in one of the cisterns at the Nairi plant. In the future, it will be easier to prevent similar accidents

“Improvement of the Local Self-Governance System in Armenia” program evaluated

To assess the “Improvement of the Local Self-Governance System in Armenia” program achievements and prospects, SDC commissioned the program evaluation to a team of two consultants – international and local. On March 23, the team has presented findings, strategic and practical recommendations to partners for a continued Swiss engagement and support to the TARA reform in Armenia. The objective has been to strengthen accountability, effectiveness and efficiency of the local self-government system in the country.

Strengthening the communication of the Territorial and Administrative reform

In order to support the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development in improving the communication of the TARA reform and informing the citizens about its advantages the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation organized a peer-review workshop in the framework of the “Improvement of the Local Self-Governance System in Armenia” program.

Following the program’s unique approach of unifying all of the stakeholders, the partnering organizations SDC, GIZ, USAID Armenia, UNDP in Armenia, World Bank Armenia, ATDF, and Council of Europe gathered around the table with a mission of assisting the Ministry in strengthening the communication strategy of the reform.

February 2018

President of the Swiss Parliament visits Armenia

Assuming the position of President of the National Council (speaker of the Parliament) in 2018, Dominique de Buman’s first official visit abroad led him to Armenia. Together with a longtime friend, Ara Babloyan, the current speaker of the RA National Assembly, Dominique de Buman co-chaired the Swiss-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group during many years. Now that both of them became speakers of their respective countries’ parliaments, this visit took place in a truly unique constellation. The visit of the eleven-member Swiss Parliamentary delegation, to Armenia lasted for four days, full of gratifying events and occasions.

Swiss Parliamentary delegation visits the Swiss funded project “Livestock Development in the South of Armenia”

The cooperative in Yelpin village is one out of many milk collection points in the target regions of the project, Syunik and Vayots Dzor marzes. During the visit the parliamentarians of the two countries familiarized themselves with the process of milk collection and production of different cheese varieties. The cooperative proved itself to be a distinct example of an effective and impactful cooperation between the two nations.

January 2018

President of Switzerland meets with RA Prime Minister

Three weeks after assuming office, the President of Switzerland, Alain Berset already meets with the RA Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan in Davos, Switzerland.

This year’s official theme of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.” And indeed, to improve the state of the world by supporting the emerging economies has been one of the main focuses of the forum. Here, at Your Embassy we believe that Armenia is ready to unveil its full potential and we were overly glad to facilitate the Prime Minister’s participation at the WEF.

9th bestselling book of the week in Armenia

The book “Der Nachtschwimmer,” written by the Swiss author Hansjörg Schertenleib, translated into Armenian by the professor Liana Safaryan, ranked 9th on Armenpress news portal’s weekly chart of top ten bestselling books - Yerevan Bestseller project!

Your Embassy was happy to contribute to the translation of the book for the Armenian readers.

The novel presents to the reader the tangled life path of the young hero, who tries to overcome the challenges created by his fears, first love, secrets, hatred, and self-affirmation.