Pretoria Visit Boosts Insights into South Africa-Ghana Development Strategies
In a bid to enhance cross-regional learning, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) office in Pretoria recently hosted Ms Magdalena Wuest, Deputy Head of Economic Cooperation and Development at the Swiss Embassy in Ghana.
The visit, part of SECO’s peer exchange initiative in January, fostered in-depth discussions among Swiss diplomats, project partners, and local development stakeholders. Participants compared approaches to program design and implementation in South Africa and Ghana, while examining broader economic and political trends shaping the African continent. Key activities included meetings with the Centre for Risk Analysis on regional trends, a tour of the Agriculture Research Council’s laboratory—supported by SECO’s Global Quality and Standards Programme—for essential oils testing, and exchanges on urban development, energy reforms, biotrade, eco-industrial parks, labour productivity, skills development, and entrepreneurship.
The initiative also connected with the Swiss Science Office and Swiss Business Hub Southern Africa.
