Dr Andri Bisaz holds a PhD in Geography and Geology from Berne University, Switzerland. After several years in private industry, he served from 1973 to 2004 in the Swiss Foreign Ministry, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). After heading the Swiss Development Coordination Office for Central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon, he was in charge of the West Africa Division at SDC and later of the Division for North Africa and the Middle East. He is the author of various publications on development cooperation and the environment and has lectured for many years on diplomacy and development cooperation in Switzerland and Malta.