The free trade agreement (FTA) between Switzerland and China officially came into effect on July 1, Swiss website Swisscofel.ch reports. Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann and senior Chinese representatives celebrated this event last Tuesday with a festive ceremony in Basel.
The ceremony took place in the afternoon, in the Basel-Kleinhüningen Rhine port, close to the border with Germany and France. The ceremony was followed by a cruise on the Rhine, on the ship 'Christoph Merian'.
The free trade agreement was signed after two and a half years of negotiations. That makes Switzerland the second European country, after Iceland, to sign a free trade agreement with China. For Switzerland, the free trade agreement with China is the most important trade agreement since the FTA with the European Community (EC) of 1972. According to figures from the country, trade with China has sky-rocketed these past few years. With import from China amounting to 11.4 billion Swiss francs, and export to China amounting to 8.8 billions Swiss francs, in 2013 China was the sixth most important export market, and the fourth most important supplier.
