In the presence of the President of the Council of States, Filippo Lombardi, the new Swiss embassy was inaugurated in an official ceremony on 3 April in the Qatari capital Doha. Switzerland is recognising Qatar's growing political and economic role and is thus honouring 40 years of bilateral relations.

From 2013 to 2016, the management of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) plans to increase its activity in fragile contexts, to tackle global risks, to strengthen its cooperation with private industry and to step up monitoring of the effectiveness of development cooperation. These four priorities are set out in the dispatch on international cooperation approved by the Swiss Parliament in September 2012. The four priorities were illustrated at the SDC's annual press conference which was held on Thursday 4 April in Bern. Haiti was quoted as a case in point.

Das revidierte Bundesgesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (UWG) ist seit dem 1. April 2012 in Kraft. Dem SECO sind seit diesem Zeitpunkt fast 5000 Beschwerden von Unternehmen sowie Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten zugetragen worden. 50 Unternehmen hat das SECO abgemahnt, gegen 17 Gesellschaften Strafklagen eingereicht.

Worldwide in 2011/2012, some 325,000 anti-personnel mines and more than 150,000 cluster bombs were destroyed. Nevertheless, millions of people continue to be threatened by these weapons both during conflicts and after hostilities have ceased. Switzerland is an important actor in the struggle against anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions and the explosive remnants of war, and last year spent CHF 17.25 million for this purpose. Today, on “International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action”, it offers information about its commitment in 2012.

Switzerland spent CHF 2,833 million of official development assistance (ODA) in 2012, an increase of 4,7% compared with 2011. In international terms, with an ODA of 0.45% of gross national income (GNI), Switzerland is 10th out of the 24 member countries of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, which published its rankings on 3 April.