From 2001 to 2010, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation coordinated activities in Belarus.
The basis for cooperation between the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation was laid by the Minister of Emergency Situations of Belarus, Major General of internal service Valery Astapov, and the Head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Mr. Walter Fust.
As part of a comprehensive humanitarian aid program, the SDC supported the IRTcentre within the framework of the "Development of the International Rescue Training Centre" project. Special attention was paid to the development of professional skills of the teaching staff - foreign experts conducted a series of specialised trainings, and the IRTcentre lecturers were trained abroad in their profile specialities.
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In 2009, during the evaluation mission of the SDC project "Development of the International Rescue Training Centre", D.Bishop, an international expert in the field of disaster prevention and mitigation, assessed the capacities of the IRTcentre and emphasised that the Institute is a training centre providing high-quality training at an international level.
From 2003 to 2010, the SDC provided IRTcentre with invaluable support in terms of developing the educational, laboratory, and material and technical base. Additionally, the SDC funded the training at the IRTcentre for the first 436 foreign specialists from 15 countries.
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In 2017, from November 27 to December 07, five representatives from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan received training in managing scientific and educational activities for emergency bodies and units at the IRT centre. The training was funded by the GEF Agency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and was supported by the SDC.
In 2018, based on an agreement with the GEF Agency of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, within the framework of the "National Project for Water Resources Management in Uzbekistan", financed by the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in the Republic of Uzbekistan, specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained in the programmes:
- from 22 January to 02 February, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan underwent training in the programme "Emergency rescue operations in the destruction zone of construction structures, transport and high-rise buildings";
- from 19 to 23 February, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme "Methodology of scientific research";
- from 12 to 23 March, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme "Management of forces and means in emergency situations";
- from 25 to 31 March, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme “Organization of measures to protect the population and territories from emergency situations” Field classes were organized for the trainees at the University, the Republican Emergency Management and Response Centre, the Republican Special Forces Detachment and the Borisov Regional Ministry for Emergency Situations;
- from 25 March to 13 April, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme ‘Management of small pleasure craft at a navigation area on inland waterways”. Practical training took place at the Borisov inspection of small vessels;
- from 02 to 13 April, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme “Rescue actions in emergency area (rescue actions instructor)” Practical training was organized for the trainees at the Republican Special Operations Detachment and the AVIATION State Air Rescue Institution of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus;
- from 12 to 20 April, five specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan were trained under the programme ‘Organization of officials activities of the state institution "State Inspectorate for Small Vessels". Practical training took place at the Borisov Inspectorate of small vessels.
As part of the cultural programme, specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Uzbekistan visited the Belarus State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, took a tour of the House-Estate of I.Kh. Kolodeev, a sightseeing tours of Minsk and Borisov, the National Library of Belarus, historical places of the Patriotic War of 1812, the State Memorial Complex "Khatyn".
In 2019, on 25th September, the IRT centre was visited by a delegation from the Swiss Confederation consisting of: Manuel Bessler - head of the Humanitarian Aid Corps of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Dietrich Dreyer - Advisor to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Roland Bollin - Head of Administration and International Relations of the Federal Office of Civil Protection; Anna Leonardi is the head of the radiology department of the National Emergency Operations Centre. During the visit, the guests were convinced that the joint Belarusian-Swiss project to create an International Rescuer-firefighters Centre on the basis of the Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus was successful. Issues of possible further cooperation were discussed.
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