The first round negotiation on China-Switzerland FTA was held on April 7 and 8 in Bern. The Chinese delegation is comprised of officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, China Banking Regulatory Commission, General Administration of Customs, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office of P.R.C Embassy in the Swiss Confederation. After in-depth consultations, the two sides determined the negotiation outline, established the negotiation mechanism, and exchanged views on trade in goods, trade in services, IPR, trade remedy and rules of origins in groups, which laid a solid foundation for the second round substantive negotiation.

In recent years, China-Switzerland bilateral trade maintained good momentum. In the past decade, the annual average growth rate of China’s export to Switzerland stood at 19% while that of Switzerland’s export to China was as high as 29%. China’s share of Switzerland’s export market was increased from 1.2% to 3.6%. After the financial crisis, bilateral trade rebounded remarkably in 2010, and the total value doubled to over $20 billion. At present, Switzerland is China’s 9th largest trading partner in Europe, and China is Switzerland’s largest trading partner in Asia. Besides, the two-way investment also grew steadily. Switzerland is China’s important source country of foreign investment and, China’s investment in Switzerland is increasing rapidly.