The president of the National Council, Marina Carobbio Guscetti (SP, TI) led a parliamentary delegation on an official visit to Rwanda, from 7 to 9 April, and to Mozambique, from 10 to 12 April.

​Rwanda

On Sunday, 7 April, National Council president Marina Carobbio Guscetti (SP, TI) and State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, represented Switzerland at the commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide. The president and the parliamentary delegation attended the ceremonies commemorating over 800,000 victims and expressed their solidarity with and support for the Rwandan people. Ms Carobbio Guscetti attended the «Mémorial du Génocide» reserved for heads of state and delegation leaders.
The Swiss delegation then joined the «Marche du Souvenir» procession to Kigali stadium, where the «Soirée de la Mémoire» took place. The following day, they visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where the remains of over 250,000 people are buried.

Ms Carobbio Guscetti was received by her Rwandan counterpart, Dantille Mukabalisa, who was accompanied by the chairpersons of several parliamentary committees and members of the Rwandan national assembly. Discussions focused on relations between Switzerland and Rwanda, development prospects and the intensification of trade relations. Ms Carobbio Guscetti and the first vice president of the National Council, Isabelle Moret (FDP, VD), also paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Richard Sezibera. They discussed Switzerland’s commitment to development cooperation and ways of diversifying bilateral relations.

Ms Carobbio Guscetti and her delegation also had the opportunity to visit a number of projects. Together with Health Minister Diane Gashumba they visited a regional health centre in Kamonyi District, where they met nursing staff – including numerous volunteers – and discussed the local health authorities’ main areas of activity and the challenges they are facing.

Ms Carobbio Guscetti also visited Swiss development cooperation projects, such as a programme providing support to victims of sexual abuse in the Nyarugenge District. Switzerland supports women through a community programme, which involves family members, neighbours and local authorities in the process of rehabilitation, for example through awareness-raising seminars. Moreover, the delegation also demonstrated Switzerland’s commitment to tackling malnutrition by visiting the company Africa Improved Food, which produces highly nutritious local food.

Mozambique

From 10 to 12 April, Ms Carobbio Guscetti visited Mozambique. Along with Malawi and Zimbabwe, the country was recently hit by Cyclone Idai, which left in its wake a large number of victims and countless personal tragedies. In meetings and throughout the official visit, the delegation expressed their full solidarity with the people of Mozambique, who have been hit by one of the most powerful cyclones of the last 30 years and are receiving Swiss humanitarian aid.

On arrival in Maputo, Ms Carobbio Guscetti and Ms Moret paid a courtesy visit to the president of the Republic of Mozambique, Felipe Jacinto Nyusi. Ms Carobbio Guscetti then met the president of the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique, Verónica Nataniel Macamo Ndlovo, and a delegation from the parliament of Mozambique, for a working visit. During this visit, the two presidents took the opportunity to share information on the work of the two parliaments. The delegation was also received by the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Osvaldo Machatine, who discussed the issue of access to water, and Vice Health Minister João Leopoldo da Costa.

Ms Carobbio Guscetti and her delegation then travelled to Nampula, where she was received by the governor of the province, Victor Borges. The delegation visited two Swiss projects, specifically a local project co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, which provides access to water for 8,000 people and a regional health centre, and the microcredit institute Banco Futuro, which aims to help lift women out of poverty.

Mozambique is a priority country for Swiss development cooperation.On a national level, Switzerland supports the government in carrying out institutional reforms in various sectors and has helped Mozambique to recover from the effects of the civil war, which shook the country from 1976 to 1992. There is a latent conflict between the party FRELIMO, which took power after independence, and the opposition party RENAMO, which has continued to run an armed movement despite taking part in national politics. Since the start of 2017, Switzerland has chaired a contact group whose seven members liaise with the two parties to the conflict with a view to concluding a lasting peace agreement.

The delegation accompanying Ms Carobbio Guscetti to Rwanda and Mozambique comprised National Council vice president, Isabelle Moret (FDP, VD), National Council members Thomas Aeschi (SVP, ZG), Isabelle Chevalley (GLP, VD), Leo Müller (CVP, LU), Rosmarie Quadranti (BDP, ZH) and Manuel Tornare (SP, GV), Ambassador Claudio Fischer, the head of International Relations and Multilingualism, and Ambassador Lugon-Moulin, head of the Sub-Saharan Africa and Francophonie division at the FDFA’s Directorate of Political Affairs.