China and Switzerland sign free trade agreement upgrade protocol

On October 30, under the joint witness of President Xi Jinping and President of the Swiss Confederation Parmland, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Secretary of State of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Economics, Education and Research and Director of the General Administration of Economic Affairs Budrig signed the protocol for upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement in Beijing.

According to the upgraded protocol, China and Switzerland will jointly make high-level commitments to open goods, services, and investments on the basis of the original free trade agreement, and further upgrade rules in areas such as origin, trade facilitation, technical trade barriers, digital trade, competition, trade and sustainable development. The successful upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement will further deepen China-Switzerland economic and trade cooperation, provide a more solid institutional guarantee for the liberalization and facilitation of bilateral trade and investment, and demonstrate the clear stance of both parties in supporting free trade, open cooperation and the rules-based multilateral trading system in the current international environment full of uncertainties.

China and Switzerland signed a free trade agreement in 2013, and the agreement came into effect in July 2014. In September 2024, the two sides launched negotiations to upgrade the free trade agreement. After five rounds of negotiations, the two sides announced the completion of negotiations in August 2026. After the upgrade protocol is signed, both parties will separately fulfill their respective domestic legal approval procedures and jointly promote the early entry into force and implementation of the upgrade protocol, so that enterprises and people of the two countries can benefit as soon as possible.