Switzerland
The Swiss parliament ratified a Free Trade Agreement between the European Free Trade Association and Indonesia, allegedly without addressing the environmental concerns regarding Indonesian palm oil production.
The Swiss government has delayed fully signing off on the expanded free-trade deal between EFTA and Turkey amid concern about human rights abuses.
Talks with US President Donald Trump were useful, says Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, who is cautiously optimistic about moving trade negotiations forward.
This study assesses the impact of the EFTA-Mercosur free trade agreement on access to medicines, indigenous rights and women rights.
A World Bank tribunal has ordered Colombia to repay a $19 million fine it levied on Glencore’s coal mining subsidiary Prodeco.
Concessions in the agricultural sector went too far. In the area of beef the Swiss had made more concessions than their EU counterparts, says Swiss Farmers’ Union.
US President Donald Trump is keen to advance talks with Switzerland on a free trade deal, Swiss President Ueli Maurer said after the first visit by a Swiss president to the Oval Office.
EU plans to extend its internal energy market rules to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas link to Germany could breach the Energy Charter Treaty, which protects international investors, according to the Swiss-registered company building it.
Switzerland will sign an accord backing China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Switzerland was the first country in continental Europe to reach a free trade agreement with China.
The "continuity agreement" - based on the EU’s existing free trade deal with Switzerland - was agreed in December but ratified on Monday.
Swiss Economics Minister has re-started negotiations with Malaysia over a proposed FTA. Talks had previously broken down over the contentious topic of palm oil.
India may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to Deutsche Telekom over the manner in which it cancelled a satellite communications contract in 2011.
The Romanian government has won a trial at World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Swiss-based energy trader Alpiq in a case related to Hidroelectrica insolvency procedure.
On 1 November, negotiations on a free trade agreement between EFTA and Indonesia were concluded in substance, with Switzerland acting as lead negotiator. The agreement means 98% of Swiss goods will be exempt from customs duties in medium term.
The five countries are expected to announce the completion of the negotiation in a ministerial meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on Nov. 23.
Swiss elevator maker, Schindler Group, has officially filed for an investor state dispute settlement against the Korean government seeking US$300 million in compensation for losses over its approval of paid-in capital increase of Hyundai Elevator
The Swiss Senate has narrowly voted against proposals to exclude palm from any free trade agreement with Malaysia and Indonesia.
The chief negotiator of Indonesia sits on the board of directors of the Indonesian company Astra Agro Lestari, one of the country’s largest palm oil producers.
Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann believes that it is possible to negotiate a free trade agreement with the US. He wants to resume discussions that faltered over a decade ago.
L’Indonésie n’exige plus l’abolition de droits de douane à l’importation de son huile de palme, produit contesté en Suisse, et accepte des règles strictes en matière de propriété intellectuelle.
