Mongolia and Switzerland established diplomatic relations on May 22, 1964.
The mutual cooperation has been intensified since 1990.
Switzerland and Mongolia enjoy a level of cooperation
now as never before.
Chronology of official
visits
Visits of Mongolian officials to Switzerland
|
1991 |
Visit
of Minister of Defence of Mongolia Mr. Sh.Jadambaa.
|
|
1991 |
Participation of Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia Mr. D.Ganbold to
the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos.
|
|
1991 |
Minister of Social Welfare and Labour of Mongolia Mrs. Tsolmon visited
Switzerland for the International Conference on Labour.
|
|
1997 |
Prime
Minister of Mongolia Mr. M.Enkhsaikhan visited Switzerland.
|
|
1998 |
Prime
Minister of Mongolia Mr. M.Enkhsaikhan participated to the WEF summit
in Davos.
|
|
1999 |
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. N.Tuya paid an official visit to the
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland.
|
|
2001 |
Head of the State Civil Defence Authority of Mongolia
|
|
2002 |
the
President of Mongolia Mr. N.Bagabandi visited Switzerland.
|
|
2003 |
Prime
Minister of Mongolia Mr. N.Enkhbayar participated to the WEF summit in
Davos, Switzerland.
|
|
2005 |
Minister of Trade and Industry Mr.S. Batbold visited Switzerland.
|
|
2005 |
Chairman
of the Mongolian-Swiss Parliamentary Group Mrs. S.Oyun visited
Switzerland.
|
|
2007 |
Minister of Social Welfare and Labour Mr. D.Demberel.
|
|
2008 |
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. S. Oyun paid official visits to their
counterparts in Switzerland.
The highlight of Mrs S. Oyun’s visit is that this is the first-ever
political consultation meeting between the Swiss and Mongolian Foreign
Ministries.
|
|
2008 |
Minister of Environment Mr. G.Shiilegdamba visited Switzerland.
|
Visits of Swiss officials to Mongolia
|
1972 |
President of the National Council (Swiss Parliament), Mr. W. Fischler
paid an official visit to Mongolia.
|
|
2002 |
Director-General of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Ambassador Walter Fust visited Mongolia.
|
|
2004 |
State
Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Mr. Franz
von Daeniken paid visit to Mongolia within the framework of the
celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic
relations between Mongolia and Switzerland and to open Swiss
Cooperation Office in Mongolia.
|
|
2005 |
Deputy Director of the SDC Mr. Adrian Schlaepfer visited Mongolia.
|
|
2006 |
Director-General of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Ambassador Walter Fust visited Mongolia to sign the framework
agreement on humanitarian assistance and technical cooperation.
|
|
2007 |
Deputy Director of the SDC Mr. Remo Gautschi visited Mongolia.
|
|
2007 |
Vice
President of the Swiss Confederation H.E. Pascal Couchepin officially
visited Mongolia.
|
|
2008 |
Speaker of Swiss Parliament Mr. André Bugnon paid an official
visit to Mongolia.
|
| 2009 |
Deputy Director of the SDC Ms. Edita Vokral visited Mongolia. |
Bilateral
Cooperation
Joint Agreements
The
bilateral cooperation agreements concluded so far include the Agreement on
the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (1997), the
Agreement on Avoidance of Fiscal Evasion and Double Taxation (1999), the
Agreement on Air Services (2000), the
framework
Agreement on Humanitarian Assistance and Technical Cooperation (2006),
Agreement on Combating Human Trafficking (2007), Agreement on the
procedures for implementation of development cooperation and humanitarian
aid programmes (2007) as well as an Agreement on implementation of
One-Stop-Shop project (2008) between the Governments of the Swiss
Confederation and Mongolia.
The two countries have been collaborating in many cooperative fields such
as public administration, civil protection, health, trade and economic.
The cooperation also addresses effective partnership in sustainable
natural resource management, promotion of good governance and poverty
alleviation in rural areas with long-term programmes. The mutual
cooperation trends to be intensified in the forthcoming years.
Trade Relationship
The
trade relations between the two countries started in 1967. By 2006,
bilateral trade reached CHF 2.8 million. As of 2007, the trade turnover
has reached CHF 4.4 million of which Mongolian export made up CHF 2.1
million and import stood at CHF 2.3 million. In the first half of 2008
bilateral trade amounted to CHF 2.5 million.
Regarding the composition of the bilateral trade, Mongolia has been
importing mostly pharmaceutical goods, machinery, equipment, spare parts,
raw materials for textile manufacturing, consumer goods, food and tobacco,
while its export to Swiss market consisted of raw materials including
wool, cashmere, animal skins, intestines, enriched copper and finished
cashmere and camel wool products.
Swiss Cooperation with Mongolia
The Swiss
Consulate was officially opened in
Ulaanbaatar in April 2002. The SDC started
its support to Mongolia with humanitarian aid in 2001, responding
to a joint appeal from the United Nations and the Government of Mongolian
for assistance in dealing with the aftermath of severe winter storms,
called “dzuds”.
Opening
of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Mongolia in 2004 played an important
role in promoting further cooperation of the two countries.
Since
then, the cooperation has gradually shifted from humanitarian aid to
development cooperation and natural resource management programmes.
The “Swiss
Cooperation Strategy for Mongolia 2007-2012”
aims to
contribute to improved and more secure livelihoods of herders and
ex-herders in rural areas focusing on improving sustainable use and
rehabilitation of natural resources and supporting ecologically-oriented
social and economic development. The strategy is aligned with the
Mongolian Government’s development goals and will
guide Swiss involvement in Mongolia for the aforementioned period with the
grant reaching CHF 10 million in 2008.
Cultural Cooperation
The Swiss Mongolian Cultural Association and the Swiss Mongolian
Cultural and Solidarity Association were founded in Switzerland in
1990 and 2004 respectively. The SDC in Mongolia
opened the Swiss Cultural and Information Center at the Children’s
Book Palace in Ulaanbaatar in 2006. The centre has a library and offers
free information about Switzerland to the public.
The Mongol-Swiss Development Foundation (MSDF),
an NGO, was established in 2003 with the mission to respond to the high
interest of the public of
Switzerland and Mongolia for
collaboration and cooperation in all spheres.
The
Chuluun Foundation
is the organization, which
collaborates with Swiss musicians to establish regular network between
Swiss and Mongolian musicians to learn and exchange experiences in
classical and contemporary music.
In addition,
the SDC in Mongolia also focuses on increasing the public awareness of
Swiss and Mongolian culture and art through information, exhibitions,
publications and events. In doing so, the SDC works in close cooperation
with the
MSDF, Mongolian Arts Council,
Swiss Mongolian Cultural and Solidarity Association, Music College,
Mongolian NGOs and individuals.
In the framework of Swiss Portal project, the SDC implemented a number of
small projects on culture, arts and music during 2004-2005. (For
more details, please
click here)
