Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Zheenbekov pays official visit to Bern
Bern, 10.07.2019 - On Wednesday, 10 July, President Ueli Maurer received President Sooronbay Zheenbekov, the head of state of the Kyrgyz Republic, who was paying an official visit to Bern. Talks focused on bilateral relations and cooperation in international organisations.
Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Swiss-led constituency at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Kyrgyzstan is also a priority country for Swiss development cooperation in Central Asia. President Maurer and President Zheenbekov commended bilateral relations between the two countries and pointed out that that there was further potential for economic exchanges, which needed to be harnessed. Kyrgyzstan’s domestic reforms were also addressed, while part of the talks were dedicated to relations with the IMF. Both sides stressed the importance of the IMF for its members as well as for the world economy.
Other topics discussed included political and economic developments in Central Asia, particularly the importance of water management for the region and the Belt and Road Initiative. Switzerland believes that projects should be market based and led by the private sector, while ensuring that they comply with international practice and standards, and are socially and environmentally sustainable.
President Maurer and President Zheenbekov were present at the signing of several memorandums of understanding. On the Swiss side, the memorandums were signed by State Secretary Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch, Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and Manuel Sager, head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) thereby underlining the importance of ongoing cooperation projects on water management, trade, winter tourism and debt management.
President Zheenbekov rounded off his official visit by paying courtesy calls to National Council President Marina Carobbio Guscetti and Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank.
Address for enquiries
Peter Minder, Head of FDF Communications
Tel. +41 79 437 73 61, peter.minder@gs-efd.admin.ch
Publisher
Federal Department of Finance
https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html
