JAKARTA, 12 DECEMBER 2023 – The 8th meeting of the ASEAN-Switzerland Joint Sectoral Cooperation Committee convened at the ASEAN Headquarters reaffirmed mutual commitment to strengthen cooperation under the ASEAN-Switzerland Sectoral Dialogue Partnership.
Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Political-Security Community Michael Tene and Head of the Asia-Pacific Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Heinrich Schellenberg, co-chaired the meeting.
Members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN or their representatives and their respective delegations as well as Ambassador of Switzerland to ASEAN, Olivier Zehnder, and the Swiss delegation were also in attendance. Ambassador of Timor-Leste to ASEAN attended as an observer.
At the meeting, both parties exchanged views on the developments in ASEAN and Switzerland, including highlights of the key outcomes of the 43rd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, the developments across the three ASEAN Community pillars, as well as updates on Switzerland’s domestic policy and foreign policy.
The meeting noted the progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN-Switzerland Sectoral Dialogue Partnership: Practical Cooperation Areas (PCA) 2022-2026. Both sides discussed the completed, ongoing, and planned projects in the implementation of the PCA.
ASEAN and Switzerland explored opportunities to further deepen cooperation in a number of important areas such as combating transnational crime, counterterrorism, good governance, sustainable finance, circular economy, education, micro, small and medium enterprises; renewable and green energy, tourism, science, technology and innovation; information and communication technologies; digital integration and e-commerce.
Other areas of future cooperation included public health; people-to-people exchanges, including cultural exchange; protection and promotion of rights of migrant workers; women empowerment and gender equality; communicable and emerging infectious diseases prevention and control; green economy; biodiversity: environmental protection; climate change mitigation and adaptation; sustainable urbanisation and smart cities; and connectivity.
The meeting looked forward to the finalisation of the ASEAN-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Joint Declaration of Cooperation which would serve as a framework for cooperation and dialogues between ASEAN and EFTA, of which Switzerland is a member, in trade and investment-related areas.
