Switzerland and Côte d’Ivoire establish new Science, Technology and Innovation fund

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On 14 April, Switzerland and Côte d'Ivoire signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abidjan to strengthen cooperation in science, technology and innovation. The agreement officialises the transfer of funds from the Strategic Support Programme for Scientific Research (PASRES) to the new National Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation of Côte d'Ivoire (FONSTI). The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS) and the Swiss Centre for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS) established the Strategic Support Programme for Scientific Research (PASRES) in 2007, after the debt relief programme of the Ivoirian-Swiss Fund for Economic and Social Development (Fonds Ivoiro Suisse pour le Développement Economique et Social, FISDES), which SECO had been supporting, was dissolved. When PASRES was first set up, the decision was made to allocate CFA 5 billion (around CHF 7.8 million) from FISDES to PASRES, in order to create a long-term national Ivorian fund for research; this was achieved in 2018 with the creation of FONSTI. The interest generated by the Swiss funds has made it possible to finance some 20 research projects a year. A 2007 declaration of intent set conditions that needed to be met before funds could be transferred from PASRES to FONSTI, to ensure FONSTI is able to function effectively in the long term. An external evaluation carried out by an Ivorian-Swiss expert group in 2021 confirmed that these conditions had been successfully met.
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