EFTA and Ukraine sign updated free trade agreement
The Swiss government’s delegate for Ukraine, Jacques Gerber, represented Bern at the signing of the EFTA-Ukraine FTA.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: EFTA and Ukraine sign updated free trade agreement
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member, and Ukraine signed an updated free trade agreement in Kyiv on Tuesday. This should help facilitate exports to the war-torn country.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
L’AELE et Kiev renforcent leurs échanges économiques
Original
The Swiss government’s delegate for Ukraine, Jacques Gerber, represented Bern at the signing.
“Modernising the free trade agreement (FTA) with Ukraine has been a priority for Switzerland,” Gerber told the Keystone-ATS news agency; The Swiss official travelled to Ukraine with a delegation from the private sector. Gerber described it as “a further step to support Ukraine as much as possible in the current geopolitical context”.
He signed the document alongside Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and representatives from the other EFTA member states, which include Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
This content was published on
Switzerland is taking its tally of free trade agreements up to 37 with new economic deals being signed with Thailand and Kosovo.
The FTA between EFTA and Ukraine, which has been in force since 2012, had shortcomings in several areas, said the economics ministry in a press release. The latest version will allow Swiss exporters to benefit from concessions for almost all agricultural products.
‘Fully liberalised’ trade
Trade in industrial products between EFTA and Ukraine will be “fully liberalised” as soon as the new agreement enters into force. This is scheduled to take place once the internal approval processes have been completed, said the Swiss ministry.
The FTA underlines the importance of Ukraine as a partner for Switzerland. Trade in goods between the two countries grew steadily between 2012 and the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, reaching a volume of more than CHF800 million ($933 million) in 2021.
Switzerland said it was continuing “its successful free trade policy and strengthening the competitiveness of its economy” with this updated FTA. The country has made progress on several agreements in recent months. For example, parliament recently approved an agreement between EFTA and India.
However, Bern is facing economic pressure from the United States. Last week, US President Donald Trump announced tariffs of 31% on Swiss imported goods. State Secretary for Economic Affairs Helene Budliger Artieda is currently in Washington to defend Swiss interests.
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey on this page to help us understand your needs.
Popular Stories
More
Workplace Switzerland
Trump tariff shock: how Switzerland is positioning itself
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Switzerland postpones online platform scrutiny as US tensions rise
This content was published on
Switzerland has delayed regulating large online platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube and X while trade tensions are rising.
Swiss Rhône river region braces for possible flooding
This content was published on
A pre-alert for possible flooding has been announced for the Rhône river as some regions of Switzerland brace for bad weather.
Switzerland commits CHF250 million for humanitarian aid
This content was published on
Switzerland allocates CHF250m to the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This content was published on
Swiss electricity grid operator posts CHF103.8 million net profit, an increase of CHF3.8 million from 2023, boosted by higher tariffs.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.