During the visit of Swiss Federal Councillor for the economy Johann Schneider-Ammann to Brussels on Thursday 20 March, he and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström discussed bilateral EU-Swiss trade relations, the two parties’ agenda for trade negotiations, and other issues of common interest –including subjects under discussion at the WTO ahead of a ministerial conference in Buenos Aires in December.
Schneider-Ammann stressed the importance of bilateral agreements and how it is in both sides’ interests for them to work well, calling for a regulator and concerted updating of the agreements, particularly vis-à-vis technical obstacles to trade.
In a press release, the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs said the Swiss economy and the EU single market were very closely involved in terms of trade, and that bilateral Switzerland-EU agreements are an important pillar of this collaboration, having been signed in mutual interest. Their proper functioning remains in both sides’ interest, the press release stated.
Schneider-Ammann spoke with European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip on the opportunities and problems of digital transformation. Both sides presented their respective digitalisation strategies.
The two sides agreed to examine options for stronger cooperation in order to create a framework to allow companies, the scientific community and society in general to make the most of the opportunities provided by digitisation and "actively" accompany the "deep and rapid" functional changes brought in by digital transformation, the Swiss side stated.
Brexit – Bern wants speedy arrangement of replacement regime. Visiting London on Friday 31 March, Schneider-Amman held talks with British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox and Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Andrea Leadsom on the future of post-Brexit trade relations between the UK and Switzerland.
Under the 'mind the gap' strategy, the Swiss Federal Council wants to arrange a replacement regime with the UK as soon as possible, particularly for trade, the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs stated.
Fox said that this would also be in the UK’s interests and Switzerland was a priority.
The timeline for drawing up a replacement regime for Swiss-UK relations, which should extend beyond free-trade relations, is therefore very tight, , the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs explained, adding that technical talks were under way.
Switzerland has close economic ties with the UK, which was its fifth largest export market in 2016 (11.4 billion Swiss francs) and its eighth biggest import partner (6.4 billion Swiss francs).
The United Kingdom is an important partner for Switzerland when it comes to agriculture. The farm product trade between the two countries exceeded 700 billion Swiss francs in 2016.
Schneider-Ammann and Leadsom discussed possible solutions for the agricultural domain. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)