The Swiss government wants to strengthen the rôle of Geneva as a centre for international organisations. It presented a project Wednesday which would extend their financial incentives for an unlimited period.

The Swiss government wants to strengthen the rôle of Geneva as a centre for international organisations. It presented a project Wednesday which would extend their financial incentives for an unlimited period.

The government says the move is aimed at maintaining the attractiveness of Geneva as a host city in the face of increasing competition.

International organisations employ about 30,000 people in Geneva. They include the European headquarters of the United Nations, the World Health Organisation, the International Labour Organisation and the International Telecommunications Union.

The government says that they are an enrichment for the whole of Switzerland and a trump card in its foreign policy.

Favourable rents, interest-free loans for construction payable over 50 years and the maintenance of the William Rappard Centre housing the World Trade Organisation have till now been granted for a limited time.

If the plans are approved by both houses of the Swiss parliament, this time limitation would be dropped from 2001.

Geneva lost out in its bid to become a world centre for the environment. The secretariats of the three Rio Conventions went to the German city of Bonn and Montreal, Canada.

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