Swiss standards for Ukraine
The Swiss government has allocated 34 million francs for mother and child health and judicial reform.
The Swiss Embassy in Ukraine and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) recently unveiled the “Strategy for Cooperation with Ukraine for 2008-2010: Moving Closer to European Standards. “The Swiss are the most efficient donors in Ukraine: in 1997 the mortality rate was extremely high in five Ukrainian oblasts, and the equipment that the Swiss government donated at the time helped reduce this rate,” said Oleksandr Brodsky, the head of the Coordination Department for International Technical Aid at Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy. “Ukraine received much assistance during the floods in the Zakarpattia region, and the Swiss-built trams in Vinnytsia are proof of the advantages of Swiss transport.”
Switzerland and Ukraine are alike in that they are both EU neighbors without being members. Switzerland’s population numbers 7 million people who occupy a territory of just 40,000 sq. kilometers. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine George Zubler emphasized that the newly unveiled strategy is the main document determining the directions of cooperation between Ukraine and Switzerland until the end of 2010. Within this period Ukraine will remain a priority country for Switzerland in terms of technical and financial aid grants. The cooperation between the two countries will continue to be founded on the strategic priorities of the Swiss and Ukrainian governments, in particular the Ukraine-EU Action Plan and the UN Millennium Development Goals that were adapted for Ukraine.
Since 1996 the Swiss Confederation has been providing technical and financial assistance to Ukraine as it advances on its path to strengthening democracy and market economy. During the implementation of the Strategy for Cooperation with Ukraine in 2002-06, Swiss aid to Ukraine totaled nearly 30 million Swiss francs. The amount of scheduled aid within the framework of the Strategy for Cooperation with Ukraine in 2008-10 exceeds 34 million Swiss francs.
The SDC differs from other organizations in that it is oriented on Ukraine’s underdeveloped regions (the focus is on the Crimea and the Carpathian region). Among its best known projects is supplying water to the Crimean residents of Bakhchesarai raion, a draft of criminal justice reform, and the FORZA forest project (Swiss-Ukrainian Forest Development Project in Zakarpattia oblast), which is aimed at stable forest utilization.
The strategic directions of cooperation in 2008-10 include improving reproductive health and mother and child health, strengthening rule of law and democracy with an accent on support for judiciary and public management reforms as well as support for the development of rural areas and the agrarian sector.
“Among the priorities is agricultural development, with an emphasis on the development of ecological production, since Switzerland is the world’s leader in the consumption of these kinds of products. We have a successful joint project with the BioLan Association, which unites producers of organic and ecologically clean production,” said Viktor Shutkevych, the coordinator of the SDC projects.
Another important aspect linked to Ukraine’s demographic crisis is the continued financing of projects to safeguard mother and child health in Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Donetsk, and Vinnytsia oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea. A total of 3.7 million francs have been allocated for this goal.
