Outline of trade agreement with India has been reached
Published: Sunday, Jan 21st 2024, 09:50
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Almost 16 years after the start of negotiations on the free trade agreement between the EFTA states and India, a basic agreement has been reached. This was announced by Economics Minister Guy Parmelin on the online platform X on Saturday evening.
Parmelin traveled to Mumbai in India at the last-minute invitation of his counterpart Piyush Goyal, the Federal Council also announced.
In response to an inquiry, Parmelin's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) announced on Sunday morning that the EFTA states had reached an agreement with India, among others, on the main features of patent protection, which had been controversial in the past.
"A new type of investment promotion chapter is also to be part of the agreement. India will deliver the finalized text on this", according to the EAER. The negotiations have not yet been concluded. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the details.
An agreement with India should create jobs for India's young population and secure Switzerland as a business location, as Parmelin said in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper published on Sunday. For Swiss companies, universal market access is vital.
A free trade agreement would also facilitate better access to environmentally friendly technologies and promote investment. "India's poor will also benefit from this," said Parmelin in response to the objection raised by development organizations in the newspaper, according to which India is a very poor country despite high growth rates.
"The free trade agreement between Switzerland and India is within reach. This is excellent news for the #tech industry," said Swissmem, the umbrella organization of the Swiss tech industry, in response to the news from India on the short message service X. Swissmem supports Parmelin "in the final spurt to conclude with the greatest possible reduction in customs duties for our products".
Negotiations since 2008
Parmelin heads the delegation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In addition to Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are also members. He already met his Indian counterpart Goyal last May. At the time, the meeting was said to have been a positive step towards advancing negotiations on a free trade agreement. The EFTA states and India have been negotiating an agreement since 2008.
It was only on Saturday that the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) announced that the EFTA states had concluded a modernized free trade agreement with Chile on Friday. In future, almost all Swiss exports to Chile will be exempt from customs duties.
And on Thursday, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Economics Minister Parmelin announced that the free trade agreement between the EFTA states and South America's Mercosur trading bloc, which has been planned for years, could still be concluded in 2024. The Mercosur states of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are ready for a deal, he said.
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