On January 16, 2017 local time, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Switzerland and witnessed by the leaders of the two countries, Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and the Head of Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland Johann N. Schneider-Ammann signed The Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research of Switzerland on the Upgrading of China-Switzerland FTA, announcing that the joint study on China-Switzerland FTA upgrading was launched.

China-Switzerland FTA was signed in July 2013, and was implemented in July 2014. It is a high-level and reciprocal FTA with rich content, and the first FTA that China signed with Continental European countries. The signing and implementation of the FTA played an active role in deepening bilateral economic and trade cooperation and promoting the economic development of the two countries.

China and Switzerland launched the joint study on FTA upgrading, and discussed the possibilities of promoting and enriching the contents, which will create favorable conditions for further promoting the level of bilateral economic and trade cooperation and bolstering China-Switzerland economic and trade cooperation to a new level.