Development cooperation: FDFA and EAER implement Parliament's decisions

Press releases, 29.01.2025

At its 29 January 2025 meeting, the Federal Council was informed about how the cuts to development cooperation decided on by Parliament will be implemented. In late December, Parliament made cuts of CHF 110 million to the 2025 budget and CHF 321 million to the 2026–28 financial plan for bilateral and multilateral development cooperation. The cuts do not affect humanitarian aid, peace promotion or support for Ukraine.

The budget cuts adopted by Parliament will alter the implementation of the International Cooperation Strategy 2025–28. They will impact bilateral, economic and thematic cooperation, and multilateral organisations-related work. Nevertheless, targeted prioritisation should allow international cooperation to still achieve a great deal of its intended impact. This includes the CHF 1.5 billion international cooperation contribution to Ukraine's recovery and the CHF 1.6 billion for international climate financing.

Measures concerning the SDC's bilateral and multilateral cooperation

·        As regards bilateral development cooperation, the SDC will phase out its bilateral development programmes in Albania, Bangladesh and Zambia by the end of 2028. This decision was based on the actual needs on the ground, Switzerland's long-term interests (diplomatic and economic) and the added value of Swiss international cooperation compared to other countries.

·        For thematic cooperation, the SDC will in future focus more on sectors where it can achieve the greatest added value and where it has long-standing expertise. In education, the focus will lie on vocational training and on education in emergencies. In health, the SDC will align its activities on HIV/AIDS and malaria with the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which are both based in Geneva.. Regarding cultural promotion, the focus has already been placed on projects abroad; in the medium term, activities in Switzerland will also be discontinued.

·        The SDC's multilateral cooperation will see contributions to three international organisations discontinued from 2025: the Global Partnership for Education, UNAIDS and UNESCO.

To implement the parliamentary decisions, additional across-the-board cuts to country and thematic programmes and to support for various organisations will be required in the period 2025–28. The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women (UN Women) as well as UNICEF will be particularly affected. Core contributions to Swiss non-governmental organisations will be cut by CHF 7.5 million. Flexible funds as part of interdepartmental cooperation on migration with SEM will also be affected, sinking from CHF 60 million to CHF 40 million over four years. In addition, commitments to multilateral development banks (African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Development Association) will be lowered from 2026.

Measures affecting SECO's economic cooperation

  • Geographical: Alongside the already planned phase-out of economic cooperation in Colombia, activities in Azerbaijan will be scaled back. In other countries, SECO will withdraw from certain sub-areas (e.g. macroeconomic support, trade promotion and infrastructure).
  • Thematic: In coordination with the SDC, SECO will discontinue its support for thematic areas such as water management and vocational education and training. It will also cut back on its projects not located in any of its priority countries.
  • International organisations: Cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank will be given a lower priority. In addition, preparations are under way to pull out of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). Another measure already approved is the joint SECO-FDFA withdrawal from the OECD Development Centre.




Address for enquiries:

For further information:
FDFA Communication
Tel. Press service +41 460 55 55
kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

GS-EAER Communication
info@gs-wbf.admin.ch
+41 58 462 20 07


Publisher:

The Federal Council
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs