DUSHANBE, April 21, 2009, Asia-Plus — The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, Mr. Stephan Nellen, presented his credentials to President Emomali Rahmon on April 21.
In the course of the talks, Tajik leader expressed satisfaction wit the present level of cooperation between Tajikistan and Switzerland and made special mention of activity of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Tajikistan, presidential press service said.
For his part, Mr. Nellen noted that his country and Tajikistan have had good strategic relations since 1992 and they plan to expand bilateral cooperation in the future as well.
During the meeting, it was noted that the Swiss Government has provided invaluable assistance with implementation of projects aimed at enhancement of Tajikistan’s education, health and cultural sectors as well as holding of various regional and international events in the country. The sides also underlined importance of activities of CARITAS and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Clearance (SFD) in Tajikistan.
Rahmon noted that Switzerland was one of reliable trading partners of Tajikistan in Europe, the press service said.
As it had been reported earlier, during his stay in Tajikistan, Mr. Nellen is also scheduled to visit different projects implemented in Tajikistan with the financial support of Switzerland.
The Embassy of Switzerland to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan officially opened on March 10, 2009 with the consular district covering these two countries. Until this year Tajikistan belonged to the consular district of the Embassy of Switzerland to the Republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Mr. Stephan Nellen (1948), MA in economics and business administration, has a lasting diplomatic experience since 1978 with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland working in the diplomatic representations in the USA and a number of countries of Asia, Eastern and Western Europe.
Since 2008 Mr. Nellen is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to the Republic of Kazakhstan and to the Republic of Tajikistan.
