BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The China-Switzerland free trade agreement (FTA) will come into effect on July 1, said the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

The FTA will further boost the two sides' economic cooperation, as well as that between China and Europe, said a statement on the ministry's website.

China and Switzerland signed the FTA in Beijing in July 2013, capping more than two years of negotiations and legal processes. The pact was signed between Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and federal councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann.

It is the first free-trade pact between China and a country in continental Europe.