Swiss government ‘keen’ on India-European Free Trade Association agreement to be signed this year

The agreement has been in the works for 15 years & Switzerland's state secretary, Helene Budliger Artieda, will be in India Tuesday, for the 2nd time this year, for the negotiations.

File photo of Helene Budliger Artieda | Photo: @SECO_StateSec

Bern: The Swiss government is keen on finalising a free trade agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which has been in the works for 15 years, in 2023.

Switzerland’s state secretary, Helene Budliger Artieda, who is visiting India Tuesday for the second time this year for the negotiations, told a group of Indian reporters in Bern that negotiations with the Indian government are underway.

“Switzerland, as part of EFTA (European Free Trade Association) is very keen to conclude a long-term free trade agreement. Negotiations are underway. This is my top priority because there is great potential between an economic relation between India and EFTA countries, in particular with Switzerland,” Budliger Artieda said before leaving for India.

The EFTA is a regional trade association comprising four countries — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Talks between India and Switzerland for the free trade agreement have been underway since 2008, she said.

Artieda will be visiting India with Indian-origin Swiss member of parliament, Niklaus Samuel Gugger, and will have meetings with Piyush Goyal, India’s minister of commerce and industries, and Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia.

ThePrint reached Goyal over phone for comment. The copy will be updated once a response is received.

‘Keen on 2023 to mark 75 years of Indo-Swiss diplomatic relations’

According to Budliger Artieda, both sides have set themselves a timeframe of wrapping up negotiations and finalising the agreement this year, as it also marks 75 years of Switzerland’s diplomatic relations with India.

India is scheduled to have parliamentary elections in 2024.

“What we are trying to do is get the negotiations to be more dynamic… our wish would be to have a comprehensive trade deal so that it is a win-win for both sides,” she said.

“It will be difficult to talk about concessions (that Switzerland is willing to make in the negotiations). Just to say that I have the mandate to push forward with these negotiations. And I do hope we can better our offer very soon,” she added.

(The reporter is part of a delegation of journalists and think tanks being hosted by the Swiss government.)

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)