Member States

The CTRS project is an initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Tunisia. The project interventions focus on cooperation with the Tunisian Government in line with its efforts in strengthening Tunisia’s links with its diaspora and to promoting the diaspora’s engagement in Tunisia’s national and local development.

The project aims at acknowledging the competences and skills of Tunisians living in Switzerland with view to strengthening their contribution to the socio-economic development of Tunisia in four areas:

This project is a part of a larger multi-year intervention “Moldova – Making the Most of Migration”, funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation and beginning in mid-2015.

The project is implemented in partnership between IOM Moldova and the Diaspora Relations Bureau (BRD) in synergy and close coordination with the two other SDC commissioned project (implemented by UNDP and IASCI).

TawiPay (www.tawipay.com) is a pilot money transfer project that started in 2015. Its main goal is to increase transparency in remittance channels. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) financed the establishment of the two remittance channels, Switzerland–Serbia and Switzerland–Bosnia. The project’s objective is to enable migrants/diaspora communities to reduce the cost of sending money to their home countries.

Switzerland supports Moldova in maximizing the positive impact of migration on the country`s socio-economic development. This is done by implementing a program with three interlinked components:

Many countries are experiencing humanitarian migration on an unprecedented scale. Efforts towards the coherent, long-term and comprehensive strategies that maximize the benefits of migration must be continued. The key to maximizing the benefits of immigration is the successful integration of migrants into their host societies.

To this end, the Greek Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants (EIF) has sought to promote European cooperation, with the objective of granting equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all.

Switzerland has a long tradition of sheltering refugees. At the same time, opinion polls consistently show voter concern about high levels of immigration, and about sheltering people who may not be genuine refugees.

In 2009, the Japanese government introduced “bridging schools” to help in the educational integration of migrant children whose parents were affected by the 2008-2009 global economic crisis.

Switzerland has developed a specific integration program, executed between 2008 and 2015, to encourage the development of individual urban projects. The program is being accompanied and funded by six different federal agencies (multi-stakeholder approach) and aims to develop individual projects in socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, where cohabitation between the local population and migrants from different parts of the world is a challenge.

The Joint Statement on the Republic of Moldova-EU Mobility Partnership was signed on 5 June, 2008 in Luxembourg.The Mobility Partnership offers a political framework for cooperation with the EU (European External Action Service, European Commission, European Training Foundation - ETF and European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders - FRONTEX) and the EU Member States (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Hungary) in the field of migration, targeting

The Federal Commission on Migration FCM is an advisory commission of the federal council. It aims to encourage harmonious relations between the Swiss population and migrants living in Switzerland. The FCM is involved in ongoing political debates, and sets its own thematic accents. It works out specific programmes to promote integration, elaborates publications and cooperates with partners on a regional, national and international level.