Free trade with Switzerland to be reinforced as other countries seek China deals amid preparations for economic summit

During his upcoming state visit to Switzerland, President Xi Jinping is expected to send a strong signal against rising global protectionism.

During the visit, from Jan 15 to 18, Xi and his Swiss counterpart, Doris Leuthard, will announce a joint decision to scale up a free trade partnership that was launched in 2014, according to Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Geng Wenbing.

Increased action to facilitate two-way trade and investment tops Xi's agenda for the visit, Geng says.

"Both sides will actively explore ways to upgrade the free trade agreement," he told China Daily. "Leaders of both countries will join hands to send a strong signal against any form of global protectionism that blocks trade and investment flows."

In addition to beefing up the trade relationship, Geng says, both sides will announce new measures to boost cultural exchanges, tourism and financial cooperation.

During the trip, Xi will deliver a keynote speech at the annul meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is scheduled to visit the Lausanne-based International Olympic Committee and the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva. He will also speak at the United Nations Office in Geneva before wrapping up his first overseas tour of 2017.

Geng says both sides are determined to set an example on free trade, which should be followed by the European Union and other global players to pave the way for faster growth of the global economy.

The two countries' free trade agreement, which waives most tariffs on goods, took effect in July, 2014. Talks began in 2011 and the two sides sealed the deal in 2013.

Talks with Norway are ongoing, but Iceland has already entered into a free trade agreement with China.

The European Union, meanwhile, insists that it should conclude a bilateral investment agreement with China before the two sides start free trade talks, though some of its member states are eager to clinch a deal with China.

Geng says more countries have shown interest in free trade talks with China lately, mainly because Switzerland has already benefited from the partnership through export growth.

Official figures from the Swiss government showed that overall exports slowed in October and November last year, but export volume to China maintained double-digit year-on-year growth in the same period.

Exports to China increased 11.5 percent year-on-year in November, while the rise in October was 24.1 percent.

"Such rosy results have led more countries to become interested in free trade talks with China, and some of them even asked me for the text of the agreement between China and Switzerland," Geng says. "I am sure that every country that enters such a trade arrangement with China will become a winner."

Geng says China has been restructuring its investment and trade-led economy toward consumption and innovation, creating tremendous opportunities for imports.

In December, the European Union, United States and Japan, the leading global economies, refused to fulfill a promise made 15 years ago when China joined the World Trade Organization to recognize China as an equal trade partner.

But Switzerland joined dozens of WTO members in recognizing China's market economy status back in 2007.

Apart from efforts to boost trade, the leaders will also upgrade their political relationship, Geng says.

Switzerland was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1950. In April, former president of the Swiss Confederation Johann N. Schneider-Ammann visited China.

"Within less than a year, President Xi is returning a state visit, and he is only visiting Switzerland during this tour, which indicates how much importance China has attached to the bilateral relationship," Geng says.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn