Federal Councillor Cassis reaffirms support for Ukraine at the IC Forum in Basel
Published: Friday, Apr 12th 2024, 14:50
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Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis reaffirmed Switzerland's financial support for Ukraine at the International Cooperation Forum (IC Forum) in Basel on Friday. Switzerland will spend more money on international cooperation in the coming years - there can be no question of saving money, said Cassis at the media conference in the exhibition hall.
Cassis said that there would be cuts at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). He predicted that, given the state of the world, the two pillars of humanitarian aid and peacebuilding will grow more than the area of development cooperation.
SDC Director Patricia Danzi said at the IC Forum that the gradual withdrawal of Swiss development cooperation with Latin America meant that the funds freed up were earmarked for Africa and the Middle East. As the funds will now flow to Ukraine, it is nevertheless important not to withdraw from any of the priority countries. Multilateral cooperation and, in some cases, supported organizers are likely to be affected by the cuts. However, the corresponding calculations have not yet been run through, said Danzi.
The background to this is that the Federal Council decided on Wednesday to allocate five billion Swiss francs for the reconstruction of the country by 2036. In a first tranche, around CHF 1.5 billion is to be requested from international cooperation until 2028. The development policy association Alliance Sud, which brings together several Swiss aid organizations, criticized this decision and feared that "tried and tested development cooperation" with the countries of the South would be cut back.
1700 participants at the IC Forum
At the IC Forum, players from the field of international cooperation meet for two days to discuss current issues. The current topic is the question "What is Peace?" ("What is peace?").
Around 1700 participants from over 100 countries have registered. A total of 900 people are attending on site, with a further 800 taking part online. On Thursday, President Viola Amherd opened the forum and met Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde for talks.
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