About SIPPO

Who we are

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 aims to better integrate developing and emerging countries into world trade. While export companies in SIPPO countries may have good products to offer to importers in foreign markets, they struggle finding ways to reach out to potential buyers. Likewise, there are importers in target markets looking for suppliers with great products but sourcing them abroad is a challenging and time consuming task.

Thus, SIPPO’s focus is to support this «last mile» of the supply chain, where exporters and importers find together. Business Support Organisations (BSOs) are the point of contact to bridge this «last mile» and to facilitate market access and exports to Switzerland, the EU, and regional markets.

Thus, SIPPO exclusively supports BSOs in SIPPO countries (public or private organisations like trade promotion organisations, export promotion boards, sector associations, chambers of commerce, etc.) in improving their export promotion service portfolio towards export-ready companies in their countries.

Through competent local SIPPO teams and in collaboration with a network of international and national experts, the SIPPO programme enhances the performance of the selected BSOs in two areas:

    

  1. Improving BSO’s export promotion services [BT1] through capacity development in market research, trade fair participation, selling missions, buyer missions and study tours.
  2. Supporting BSOs in their organizational development, strategic planning and positioning, project cycle management, knowledge sharing and continuous learning.

SIPPO is active in 11 partner countries and 6 sectors: Fish& Seafood, Processed Foods, Natural Ingredients, Technical Wood, Value-added Textiles and Sustainable Tourism.

SIPPO has been implemented by Swisscontact since 2017 in partnership with BHP Brugger and Partners and Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and is now in its Phase 2 (2021-2025).

About Us

SIPPO in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), SIPPO has been operating in various sectors and with different approaches since 2002. BiH’s main advantages, such as natural resources, its proximity to the EU and skillful labor force are recognized by EU and worldwide importers. SIPPO's new mandate started in 2017, provides support to BSOs in BiH which work in the following sectors: natural ingredients, technical wood and value-added textiles. These sectors have great export potential in the EU, Switzerland and other important markets.

Sectors

In BiH, SIPPO is active in the sectors of Technical Wood, Natural Ingredients and Value-added Textiles.

Through BSOs, such as trade chambers, export promotion agencies and business associations, BiH companies receive enhanced services that allow them to access important export markets.

Technical Wood

Technical Wood

Proximity to the EU market, high quality wood, knowledge and tradition in wood processing, make the technical wood sector one of the most important export sectors in the BiH economy. BiH wood products are highly valued in the EU market. Wi...

Show more
Natural Ingredients

Natural Ingredients

BiH is a country of rich biodiversity with a variety of unpolluted areas that have ideal conditions for organic production. This is why mushrooms, medicinal and aromatic plants, essential oils, honey and other products produced in BiH are...

Show more
Value-added Textiles

Value-added Textiles

An experienced workforce, fast delivery due to proximity to the EU market, possibility for production of small orders, and tradition are the main advantages of the BiH textile industry. BiH is in a good position to attract textile industry...

Show more

Contact

Our Team – Your Contact

To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.

  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.