- 16 years after the start of negotiations on the free trade agreement between the Efta states and India, the basic principles have been reached.
- Economics Minister Guy Parmelin announced this on Saturday evening on the online platform X, formerly Twitter.
- The economics minister did not say what the states had specifically agreed on.
Parmelin heads the delegation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In addition to Switzerland, it includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Parmelin also said that he traveled to Mumbai in India at the short notice invitation of his counterpart Piyush Goyal.
So that the agreement can be signed as soon as possible, “our teams are working hard to clarify the last outstanding details,” Parmelin continued. Parmelin met Indian Trade Minister Goyal last May. At the time it was said that the meeting was a positive step to advance negotiations on a free trade agreement. The Efta states and India have been negotiating an agreement since 2008.
An agreement with India should create jobs for India’s young population and secure Switzerland as a workplace, said Parmelin in an interview with the “SonntagsZeitung”. For Swiss companies, market access that is as universal as possible is vital.
A free trade agreement also facilitates better access to environmentally friendly technologies and promotes investment. “India’s poor will also benefit from this,” Parmelin responded to the newspaper’s objection from development organizations that India was a very poor country despite high growth rates.