Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss government submits India free trade agreement to parliament

"By concluding the agreement with India, the world's most populous country, we are finally filling one of the biggest gaps on our free trade network map," said Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin on Thursday.
"By concluding the agreement with India, the world's most populous country, we are finally filling one of the biggest gaps on our free trade network map," said Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin on Thursday. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss government has submitted its proposed free trade agreement with India to parliament. It is expected to debate the treaty in the upcoming spring and winter parliamentary sessions.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Switzerland signed the agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes the Alpine nation, in March, alongside the other EFTA members after sixteen years of negotiations.

+ Switzerland signs free trade deal with India

The deal strengthens the competitiveness of Swiss exports in the world’s most populous country, the Swiss government said in a statement on Thursday.

While India currently levies very high tariffs on most imported products, EFTA is the first European partner to sign such an agreement with New Delhi.

+ Swiss trade deal: Is India changing its tune on pharma patents?

Under the agreement, 94.7% of Swiss exports to India will benefit from tariff relief. The agreement includes a chapter on investment promotion and cooperation. It also includes a comprehensive, legally binding chapter on trade and sustainable development.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Close-up view of cannabis buds in a bottling jar.

More

Zurich cannabis study receives positive assessment

This content was published on Health officials in the city of Zurich have given a positive assessment of a controlled study into the recreational use of cannabis, one year after it was launched.

Read more: Zurich cannabis study receives positive assessment
Logitech International founder Daniel Borel on Wednesday failed in his attempt to oust Chairperson Wendy Becker,

More

Logitech chair wins power struggle at AGM

This content was published on Logitech International co-founder Daniel Borel's attempt to oust Wendy Becker, chair of the board of directors, has once again failed.

Read more: Logitech chair wins power struggle at AGM

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

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.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR