The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Peace and Human Rights Division (PHRD), part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, under the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, are responsible for implementing Switzerland’s international development cooperation. Switzerland joined ADB in 1967.
Switzerland’s International Cooperation Strategy 2025–2028 focuses on four key thematic priorities and targets specific regions and countries to maximize the impact of its development assistance. The first priority is human development, aiming to save lives, alleviate human suffering, and support access to high-quality basic services for the most disadvantaged. The second priority addresses sustainable economic development by creating decent jobs through conducive framework conditions, a dynamic local economy, and a strong private sector. The third priority refers to climate and the environment - the objective is to guarantee environmentally friendly development, resilient to climate change, and natural disasters for the benefit of the most disadvantaged. The fourth priority involves peace and governance - resolving conflicts, promoting peace, democracy and the rule of law, and upholding human rights.
The priority regions in Asia include Central Asia (Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Uzbekistan); the South Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan); the Mekong region (Cambodia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic). Priority countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Since becoming a member in 1967, Switzerland has committed $449.9 million to special funds, of which $424.7 million went to the Asian Development Fund (ADF). The ADF provides grants to ADB’s low-income, developing member countries to help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life.
3 May 2024
Donors and ADB have agreed to a replenishment of $5 billion for ADB’s Asian Development Fund 14 and Technical Assistance Special Fund 8. The commitment was made during ADB’s 57th Annual Meeting.
ADB is working with partners to develop new approaches and financing solutions to make infrastructure resilient, protect ecosystems, and enhance the well-being of communities amid the impacts of accelerated glacial melt.
A total of 616 families in Vinh Yen, Viet Nam now have clean water toilets. These were funded by the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
ADB and Switzerland collaborated on several knowledge products and events including the following:
This paper examines real and financial spillovers to safe haven financial flow destinations due to risk-off shocks in global financial markets. Country-specific structural vector autoregression models over the period 1990 to 2021 show that the dynamics for Japan appear to be different from those of Switzerland and the US in four main ways.
Active trust funds are those a) with ongoing projects; or b) with no active projects but have remaining funds.
Switzerland contributes to ADB’s development initiatives through two key avenues: Cofinancing and Special Funds.
Sovereign Cofinancing. In 2024, Switzerland committed $2.2 million in technical assistance to help Nepal develop climate-resilient infrastructure. The estimated contribution of Switzerland for the duration of the whole intervention (2023-2030) amounts to $11 million. This initiative aims to strengthen multi-hazard risk models and early warning systems for de-risking public and private investments and protection of communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region. Switzerland will also provide technical expertise to support this effort. Through this technical assistance, ADB, in partnership with Switzerland, the World Bank and a Consortium of Swiss technical and local partners will conduct a deep analysis of multi-hazard risks, including landslides, earthquakes, floods, and glacier lake outbursts, as well as vulnerabilities in Nepal. This analysis will enhance the capacities of government counterparts at all levels to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins with a strong involvement of academia and private service providers. The results of these assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development, thereby improving resilience to climate-related hazards.
Nonsovereign Cofinancing. The Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) supported over 350 transactions valued at $1.3 billion with banks domiciled in Switzerland from 2009 to 2024. During the same period, the TSCFP supported over 1,510 Swiss exports and/or imports valued at $5.1 billion. In 2024 alone, the TSCFP supported 45 transactions valued at $86.7 million with banks domiciled in Switzerland and supported 170 Swiss exports and/or imports valued at $459.3 million. Exports and/or imports were mainly to or from Bangladesh, Viet Nam, and Pakistan. Underlying goods involved mostly food and agriculture-related goods, raw and non-energy commodities, as well as textiles and apparel. Switzerland has also been supportive of ADB’s TSCFP through its contribution to the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund that provided $1.5 million to finance TSCFP’s safeguards-related initiatives.
Further, in 2024, Switzerland committed $1.2 million to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Cambodia and Lao PDR through the ADB Frontier Seed program (ADBF). The estimated contribution of Switzerland for the duration of the whole intervention (2024-2029) amounts to $3.8 million. The ADB Frontier Seed technical assistance was set up (i) to provide catalytic funding and technical assistance to growing industries, which have potential to contributing to employment, women economic empowerment and climate responsive growth in urban and rural areas; (ii) to support capital market transition towards greater inclusion of Gazelle MSMEs in frontier markets.
