The Swiss government on June 3 pledged up to 52 million francs ($58 million) in grants for the Kingdom’s development over the next four years, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said in a statement.

The pledge was made during an online meeting between the Cambodian-Swiss governmental consultation on the draft Swiss Mekong Region Cooperation Programme 2022-2025.

The Cambodian delegation was led by the CDC Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board secretary-general Chhieng Yanara, and the Swiss side was headed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) director of cooperation Markus Buerli.

The meeting was attended by senior and technical officials from 20 Cambodian ministries and government agencies, and about 60 SDC officials.

According to the CDC, through the Swiss Mekong Region Cooperation Programme 2022-2025, the Swiss government plans to provide up to 133 million francs in grants, organised into two levels: the country level – for Cambodia and Laos – and regional level.

Of that, the Swiss government plans to provide up to 52 million francs, or 13 million per year, to support the implementation of the programme in the Kingdom, the CDC said.

Between 2000 and 2020, the Swiss government awarded a total of $142 million in grants to the Kingdom in support of development projects, it said citing data from the Cambodia Cooperation Finance Database.