Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

China, Switzerland will study feasibility of free trade pact

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-27 16:09

China and Switzerland will study the feasibility of a bilateral free trade agreement in the second half of this year, said Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun in Beijing on Monday.

Related readings:  Trade pacts inked with European countries   Bank of China opens subsidiaries in Switzerland China willing to better co-op with Switzerland: official   Switzerland sees Shanghai Expo as important platform

China and Switzerland are complementary in their resources and industry distributions, providing a solid foundation to discuss such a pact, Yi told a seminar on the subject.

Blaise Godet, Swiss ambassador to China, said the seminar was a first and important step toward a free trade agreement.

China has been an important business partner for Switzerland in Asia since 2002, and bilateral trade hit 11.1 billion Swiss francs ($9.74 billion) in 2008, almost 30 times the figure in 1980, he said.

The two-day seminar attracted representatives from both countries in industries such as textiles, machines and clocks and watches.