Switzerland
Why Switzerland? Why not?
Switzerland is looking to boost its free trade accords with other countries following the collapse of world trade talks, says the country’s top economics official.
Switzerland’s Economics Minister, Joseph Deiss, led a business delegation comprised of senior officials from Novartis, Credit Suisse, SACC and Economy Swiss, to Malaysia.
Switzerland and Colombia signed two agreements in Bern on 17 May 2006. The first was an agreement on the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments between Switzerland and Colombia. The second was a Declaration on Cooperation between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Colombia.
Parliament is due to discuss a free-trade accord between Switzerland and South Korea - the latest such deal aimed at liberalising economic ties abroad.
Saudi Arabia and Switzerland plan to sign an investment protection agreement during the visit of Swiss Minister of Economy Joseph Deiss to the Kingdom on April 1 this year.
Switzerland would explore the prospects of a Free Trade Agreement with India. Identifying India as an important market, the Swiss Minister of Economic Affairs, Joseph Deiss, said he would be discussing the issue with his counterparts in Delhi in the next two days.
The prospect of a Swiss-US free-trade accord is in doubt, mainly due to differences over agriculture, according to Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss.
The Bush administration is considering free-trade negotiations with Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, and Switzerland, the US Trade Representative’s top agriculture trade negotiator said Monday.
Guyana and the Swiss Confederation recently signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty which will facilitate an increase in Swiss investments in the local economy.
Japan will hold its first joint study meetings separately with Switzerland and Australia next week in Tokyo to explore the possibility of concluding bilateral free trade agreements, the government said Wednesday.
An independent report says a free-trade accord between Switzerland and the United States would have "extremely valuable benefits" for both countries.
The Bush administration said it’s considering separate entreaties from Egypt, Malaysia, South Korea and Switzerland to negotiate free-trade agreements with them.
The Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce warns that Switzerland must now seize the chance for a free-trade agreement with the United States.
Prudish about bilateral free-trade agreements just five years ago, Tokyo is now fielding partnership requests from 25 economies and regional blocs. But there is no denying an element of haphazardness in the way it is selecting some of the candidates.
An FTA with Switzerland, to be reached by April, would allow Japan to strengthen its position to fight back pressure to open up its agricultural market.
Japan has been lagging behind other industrialized nations in pursuing bilateral or regional agreements. It now needs a strategy as it tries to catch up with the global trend.
