SIPPO SUPPORTS BUSINESS SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS (BSOS) FROM THESE COUNTRIES:

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, North Macedonia, Morocco, Serbia, Peru, South Africa, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, Vietnam
To The Main Sippo Website For non-sippo-countries
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The Swiss Import Promotion Programme is a mandate of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

What is Sippo

The Swiss Import Promotion Programme is a mandate of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Better integration into world trade

About Sippo

Better integration into world trade

The Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) is a well-established mandate of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) within the framework of its economic development cooperation.     

  • SIPPO’s overall objective is to improve access and participation of export-oriented companies in the EU and Swiss markets, which offer high demand and value for products and services from partner countries.
  • SIPPO places greater emphasis on Business Support Organisations (BSOs) as strategic partners within the Export Promotion System, who are the key actors in driving the competitiveness and market access of export oriented companies.
  • SIPPO advises and supports over 50 BSOs in 11 partner countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, Morocco, North Macedonia, Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Tunisia, Ukraine und Vietnam. The programme is active in six sectors: Fish & Seafood, Processed Foods, Natural Ingredients, Technical Wood, Value added Textiles and Sustainable Tourism.
  • SIPPO’s interventions strengthen the capacity of BSOs and other system actors to deliver export promotion services, ensuring their long-term availability while promoting inclusive and sustainable practices.
  • Tailored Support: The programme helps established exporters improve competitiveness and supports new exporters to enter international and regional markets.
  • By fostering networking SIPPO helps increase the quality, resources and investment in export promotion services.
  • SIPPO has been implemented by Swisscontact since 2017 in partnership with BHP Brugger and Partners and Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and is currently in the third and final phase of the programme (2026-2029).

Mandate of SIPPO

What we do

SIPPO has entered the third and final phase of its three-phase cycle (Phase 1: 2017–2021, Phase 2: 2021–2025, Phase 3: 2026–2029). This phase is dedicated to consolidating the programme’s achievements and preparing for its closure in 2029, as the current mandate with Swisscontact comes to an end. The focus is on securing the quality, quantity and inclusivity of export promotion services by strengthening institutions and fostering lasting networks among key market actors.

In Phase 3, SIPPO continues to build the organisational capacity of Business Support Organisations (BSOs) and strengthen export promotion systems in its partner countries, while also expanding cooperation to other relevant market actors to create more collaborative and resilient systems.

Working with a network of international and national experts, SIPPO strengthens selected BSOs, which in turn provide local export companies with professional export promotion services. This supports specific sectors and helps export-oriented companies improve their performance in international markets.

BSOs offer high-quality market intelligence and B2B matchmaking, including trade fairs, selling and buyer missions, and study tours, while expanding companies’ international networks. Through this, SIPPO contributes to increased exports and job creation.

Digitalisation and sustainability are the programme’s core transversal priorities, with dedicated strategies to enhance export promotion services. Climate action and gender equality are addressed in an integrated way through the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability.

 

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Benefits for BSOs

Tailor-made capacity development

SIPPO supports the BSOs through tailor-made capacity development in two areas:

  1. Entering new markets, through capacity development in market research, trade fair participation, selling missions, buyer missions and study tours.
  2. Organisational development: SIPPO supports BSOs in optimising internal processes such as Customer Relationship Management and Monitoring and Results Management (MRM), as well as in knowledge sharing, strategic alignment and continuous learning.

BSOs and SIPPO work together in partnership. Measures to improve export promotion capacities are jointly identified, planned and implemented. While SIPPO shares  its long-standing expertise in export promotion, the BSOs contribute significantly to the implementation of these measures with their financial resources and manpower.

Value Chain Cooperation Projects

Make use of SIPPO's expertise

SIPPO works together with other Swiss cooperation programmes. Swiss "Value Chain Cooperation Projects" can benefit from SIPPO's knowledge of the “last mile” and its BSO and expert network. While these projects focus on improvements within the value chain, SIPPO contributes knowledge on bridging the so-called "last mile" and can facilitate the access of Swiss Value Chain Cooperation Projects to new markets.

SIPPO's cooperation ranges from knowledge transfer and contacts in the field of export promotion to the cooperation for market access activities and advisory in the conception phase of upcoming Swiss cooperation projects.

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