Xi meets Swiss President Parmelin and attends signing ceremony; upgraded deal will eventually make 99.8% of Swiss exports to China duty-free.
Xinhua said President Xi Jinping met Swiss President Guy Parmelin, on a working visit, in Beijing on 30 October, and the two then attended a signing ceremony for cooperation documents; Xinhua did not specify the documents. The Swiss government had announced that the two sides would sign the optimised bilateral free trade agreement after the meeting. Reuters reported that Xi said the upgraded agreement reflected political courage and a sense of responsibility in upholding open cooperation and could bring confidence and certainty to China-Europe trade and the global economy, while Parmelin called it a new step in relations that met companies' concrete expectations and said he hoped to hold the next foreign-ministers' strategic dialogue later this year. According to figures published earlier by Switzerland's SECO, about 53.6% of Swiss exports to China are currently duty-free, rising to 77.5% on entry into force and 99.8% after transition periods of up to ten years; the deal also covers investment access, services, digital trade, and environmental and labour provisions, and takes effect only after domestic approval in both countries, which in Switzerland is expected to take at least a year.
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