The talks, the first to take place under this government, provide a chance to further strengthen the trading relationship, drive economic growth and create jobs across the UK, according to a press release by the government of UK.

The UK and Switzerland are both leading service-based economies, with services trade accounting for nearly £30 billion (~$39.24 billion) of UK-Swiss trade, despite the existing trade agreement focusing mostly on goods. A modern deal could support jobs in all UK nations and regions, including 130,000 services jobs supported by exports to Switzerland, and provide much needed long-term certainty on travel arrangements for UK firms.

Negotiations resumed as the UK government welcomed global investors to the international investment summit in London. The summit will make clear that the UK is ‘open for business’ as the government resets relations with trading partners around the globe, as per the press release. The upgraded UK-Switzerland FTA will include detailed commitments on services and investment for the first time, providing both the countries’ businesses with guaranteed access to one another’s markets to encourage investment and services trade in both directions.

Jonathan Reynolds, business and trade secretary said: “Economic growth is this government’s driving mission and trade with partners like Switzerland has an important role to play in that. The trade between our two nations has quadrupled in current prices in the last 20 years, with services playing a huge role in that success. I’m looking forward to starting negotiations on an updated and modern trade deal, which will help drive economic growth and boost jobs and prosperity across the UK.”

“The UK and Switzerland are the two largest financial centres in Europe. The restarting of negotiations with Switzerland is hugely welcome and will significantly boost trade in services, which already drives substantial growth in both countries,” said Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the city of London Corporation.

The current UK-Switzerland trade deal is largely based on an EU-Swiss deal from 1972 and does not cover digital trade or data flows. However, 80 per cent of all services exported from the UK to Switzerland were digitally delivered in 2021.

Monday marked the first round of UK-Switzerland negotiations since the business and trade secretary announced in July his intention to deliver an ambitious FTA programme. The UK restarted talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) just last month and is coordinating with other FTA partners to get negotiators back in the room as soon as possible.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)