Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)

Website of the SDC in Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan): www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/southerncaucasus/

Swiss cooperation has been active in the Southern Caucasus since 1988, when Switzerland came to the aid of the numerous victims of the earthquake in northern Armenia. In the early 1990s, this cooperation stepped up its regional presence to help the victims of the territorial conflicts that erupted in several regions of the Southern Caucasus (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh), forcing nearly 1.5 million people to leave their homes. The SDC opened a regional Cooperation Office in Tbilisi in 1999, and sub-offices were opened in Baku and Yerevan in 2001 and 2002.
Today, the SDC and SECO implement cooperation programmes in the three countries of the Southern Caucasus, with the aim of helping to alleviate poverty, support the process of transition to a market economy and towards sound democratic structures.

The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment	2009 Mio. CHF	2010 Mio. CHF	2011* Mio. CHF

SDC
Cooperation with Eastern Europe and CIS	8.75	8.79	8.50
Humanitarian aid	6.80	4.03	6.37
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
Economic Cooperation and Development	4.12	1.61	3.36
Total SDC/SECO commitment	19.67	14.43	18.23

Other Federal Offices
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA (Political Affairs Division IV and other)	0.62	0.37	0.18
Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS)	0.32	–	–
Federal Office for Migration (FOM)	0.11	0.08	..
Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)	–	0.02	..
Total other Federal Offices	1.05	0.47	0.18

Total	20.72	14.90	18.41

* planned; total based on available data
Bilateral development cooperation excluding program contributions to NGOs
.. = figures not available | – = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF

Cooperation with Eastern Europe: Priorities

Swiss cooperation has developed a new regional cooperation strategy with three priority action fields for the period 2008 to 2011. These are:

economic development and employment: In this area, the SDC and SECO are aiming to increase and diversify the income of disadvantaged population groups living in rural areas. In practical terms, the goal of projects in this sector is to strengthen the professional competence of small farmers, give them easier access to quality services (veterinary services, training and advice, etc.) and integrate them into the market. Economic development and employment projects also comprise building local partner authorities’ capacity to encourage economic development in their region and to manage and prevent natural disasters (flooding, landslides, etc.).
reconstruction and rehabilitation (mainly Humanitarian Aid): SDC activities in this field focus on two sectors: i) strengthening national and local capability to manage the aftermath of natural disasters and forestall natural hazards; ii) strengthening social protection systems for disadvantaged or vulnerable population groups, particularly people directly affected by conflicts, and seeking sustainable housing solutions for vulnerable persons in need of shelter.
support for developing and implementing macro-economic policies: SECO (which operates only in Azerbaijan) is implementing programmes to help the government improve the transparency, effectiveness and viability of its taxation systems and macro-economic policies.

Swiss cooperation works and implements its projects in conjunction with several local and international partners, in particular:

partner governments and local authorities
the World Bank and UN specialized agencies, especially the UNHCR, WFP, FAO and UNDP
local, Swiss and international NGOs
Swiss or international academic institutions, such as the IHEID and the Springfield Centre

Background Information Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)

Facts and figures

Georgia

Azerbaijan

Armenia

	Surface area
	Population
	Annual population growth rate (since 1990)
	Life expectancy at birth women / men
	Adult illiteracy rate: women / men
	Gross Domestic Product GDP per capita
	Percentage of population with less than 2 USD per day

	69'700
	4.3
	- 1.1
	75 / 68
	0 / 0
	2'449.1
	32.6

km2

mill.

years

USD

	86'600
	8.8
	1.2
	73 / 68
	1 / 0
	4'899.1
	7.8

	29'740
	3.1
	0.2
	77 / 71
	1 / 0
	2'826
	12.4

km2

mill.

years

USD

Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2011

Armenia(BBC)
Azerbaijan(BBC)
Georgia(BBC)

Local SDC contact address:



Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) (Tbilisi)
Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus - Branch Office Armenia Melik-Adamyan 2/1 Yerevan 0010 - Armenia Phone (+374 10) 52 40 88 / (+374 10) 52 98 60 Fax (+374 10) 52 98 61 Email yerevan@sdc.net Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus - Branch Office Azerbaijan Boyuk Qala Str. 9, Old City AZ-1004 Baku - Azerbaijan Phone +994 12 437 38 55 Fax +994 12 437 38 56 Email baku@sdc.net Swiss Cooperation Office for the Southern Caucasus Embassy of Switzerland Radiani Street 12 0179 Tbilisi - Georgia
Phone	+99 53 22 53682 +99 53 22 53683
Fax	+99 53 22 53684
Email	tbilisi@sdc.net
Website	www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/southerncaucasus/

Additional Information and Documents

Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country.