Remo Gautschi is Deputy Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He finished his studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology with a Master’s Degree of Science in Civil Engineering, followed by a post-graduate diploma on Structural and Spatial Planning. After significant private sector experience, he started working with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for an assignment at the cooperation office in Kathmandu/Nepal. Following various posts focussed on South East Asia and the CIS, Remo Gautschi was promoted to Deputy Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in the rank of Ambassador in 2001. Remo Gautschi was for many years a member of the Board of the International Centre for Mountain Development in Nepal (ICIMOD). From 2003 - 2005 he also served as chairperson of the International Water Management Institute IWMI (a CGIAR centre) in Sri Lanka.