(Source: 21st Century Economic Report, 2024-09-25)
On September 23, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Swiss Federal Councilor and Minister of Economics, Education and Research Parmland jointly announced via video that China and Switzerland had officially launched negotiations to upgrade the free w88 agreement. The two sides agreed to work together, intensify consultations, and reach a high-level upgrade agreement as soon as possible on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results.
The China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement") was signed in July 2013 and came into effect in July 2014. The Agreement is the first free w88 agreement signed between my country and a country in continental Europe, and it is also the first bilateral contract signed between Switzerland and a country outside the EU.
Yan Shiqiang, associate researcher at the European Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald that since the Agreement came into effect 10 years ago, it has played a positive role in promoting the growth of bilateral w88, and enterprises from both countries have truly benefited from it.
Yan Shiqiang said that under the unfavorable situation of global w88 declining by about 5% in 2023, China-Switzerland bilateral w88 volume bucked the trend and increased by 4.4%, reaching US$59.5 billion. From January to July 2024, the bilateral w88 volume between China and Switzerland reached US$43.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 20%.
Shortly after the agreement was signed and implemented, China and Switzerland began to study the possibility of upgrading the free w88 agreement. Information from the Ministry of Commerce shows that in January 2017, China and Switzerland signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Upgrading of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Swiss Federal Ministry of Economy, Education and Research" and announced the launch of a joint study on the upgrading of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement.
In January 2024, China and Switzerland announced the completion of a joint feasibility study on the upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement (FTA), and unanimously agreed to support the launch of formal upgrade negotiations as soon as possible. In February 2024, Swiss Federal Councilor and Foreign Minister Cassis expressed during his visit to China that he hopes to take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland next year as an opportunity to complete the upgrade of the free w88 agreement to better promote the development of economic and w88 exchanges and relations between the two countries.
We will jointly formulate new high-standard economic and w88 rules
Li Siqi, associate professor at the China WTO Research Institute at the w88 casino, said in an interview with a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald that the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement is a high-quality, rich-connotation, mutually beneficial and win-win agreement.
"Currently, the tariff reduction arrangements between China and Switzerland have been basically completed, and about 90% of each other's product tax items have achieved zero tariffs, creating favorable conditions for enterprises of the two countries to expand mutual exports." Li Siqi said that under the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, China and Switzerland have very broad space and prospects for economic and w88 cooperation, and it has also hedged the risks caused by the uncertainty of the global economic and w88 environment.
Li Siqi analyzed that the launch of negotiations to upgrade the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement demonstrates my country’s unswerving determination to expand opening up to the outside world. Launching negotiations to upgrade the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement is a practical measure to implement the important arrangements of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and is an important practice for my country to participate in the formulation of high-standard international economic and w88 rules. At present, my country continues to promote high-level opening up to the outside world, has accumulated valuable experience, and has taken many opening-up measures in areas such as investment and service w88. These have laid a good foundation for the launch of negotiations to upgrade the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement and will also bring new opportunities for Swiss companies to enter the Chinese market.
Li Siqi pointed out that the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement has broad room for upgrade. China and Switzerland will further enhance the openness of the goods w88 market between the two countries through upgraded negotiations, promote the inclusion of more products in the zero-tariff list, and expand market access for service w88 and investment. At the same time, the current international w88 environment has undergone new changes, and green development and digital transformation have become new trends. China and Switzerland will also jointly formulate new high-standard economic and w88 rules in areas such as digital economy, green economy, and competition policy.
Talking about the official launch of negotiations to upgrade the free w88 agreement between China and Switzerland, Yan Shiqiang also said that this will further enhance the openness of the goods w88 market between the two countries, promote the inclusion of more products in the zero-tariff list, and expand service w88 and investment market access. At the same time, the two sides will jointly formulate new high-standard economic and w88 rules in areas such as digital economy, green economy, and competition policy.
Yan Shiqiang further analyzed that China and Switzerland have officially launched free w88 agreement upgrade negotiations, and will further negotiate a higher-level upgrade agreement based on the existing free w88 agreement, which is of great significance to both countries.
"First of all, it demonstrates China's unswerving determination to expand opening up. The launch of upgrading negotiations on the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement is a practical measure to implement the important deployment of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. China and Switzerland will further enhance the openness of the goods w88 market between the two countries through upgrading negotiations, promote the inclusion of more products in the zero-tariff list, and expand market access for service w88 and investment." Yan Shiqiang said.
Yan Shiqiang pointed out that secondly, this will be conducive to further expanding bilateral w88 and promoting two-way investment. China has been Switzerland's third largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years, and Switzerland is China's sixth largest trading partner in Europe. By upgrading the free w88 agreement, the two sides will further expand mutual openness, create more favorable and convenient conditions for enterprises of the two countries to carry out w88 and investment cooperation, give full play to the comparative advantages of the two countries, and promote the in-depth integrated development of industrial and supply chains.
Yan Shiqiang believes that finally, this sends a positive signal to the world that the two countries support free w88 and open cooperation. This fully reflects the firm determination and practical actions of China and Sweden to build an open and standardized international economic and w88 cooperation environment and jointly support and promote economic globalization and w88 liberalization. In the current context of economic globalization encountering countercurrents and the rise of w88 protectionism, it is of special significance for China and Switzerland to launch negotiations to upgrade the free w88 agreement.
The China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement has room for upgrade in three aspects
“The upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement will continue to deepen Sino-Switzerland economic and w88 cooperation, which will not only bring broader development opportunities to enterprises of both countries, but also benefit China’s economic development. China’s development cannot be separated from the world, and the development of the world also needs China.” Li Siqi said.
Li Siqi pointed out that the negotiation to upgrade the China-Switzerland economic and w88 agreement will help my country further build a high-standard free w88 zone network to participate in the formulation of high-standard international economic and w88 rules and promote high-level opening up to the outside world.
Regarding the upgrade space of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, Liu Yizhuo, a researcher at the E-Commerce Research Institute of the Institute of International w88 and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out in "The Tenth Anniversary of the Implementation of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement: Sharing the Fruits of Opening Up" that based on the tariff structure and the current status of bilateral w88 and investment cooperation between China and Switzerland, the space for the future upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement will mainly focus on three aspects.
First, promote further opening of the market and share the dividends of opening up. The WTO most-favored-nation tariff levels and structures between China and Switzerland are quite different, which affects the utilization rate of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement to a certain extent. In the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, although Switzerland has implemented zero tariffs on all industrial products originating in China since it came into effect, it has not yet achieved zero tariffs on agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, and poultry that are of important export interest to China.
In order to improve enterprises’ utilization of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement and achieve openness and win-win results for both parties, during the upgrade negotiations of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, both parties can focus on further consultations on tax reductions for goods of respective concern. For example, China can ask Sweden to make a commitment to further reduce tariffs on agricultural products with important export interests, such as fruits, vegetables and products, and poultry meat; Sweden can also ask China to further reduce tariffs on clocks and other commodities that it is concerned about.
Second, in recent years, in line with international high-standard economic and w88 rules such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), China has signed new free w88 agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The above-mentioned agreement not only covers traditional issues, but also adds new issues such as e-commerce, small and medium-sized enterprises, and government procurement. Since the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement was signed relatively early, China's actual development level and current acceptable level were fully considered when signing. Therefore, although it includes new rule issues such as government procurement, environment, intellectual property rights, competition, etc., it does not cover the above new issues. In addition, most of the issues in the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement are only generally described as "soft constraints" without substantive commitments. The open model for investment and w88 in services is still a positive list.
In the upgrade negotiations, we should standardize international high-standard economic and w88 rules, add new topics such as e-commerce, small and medium-sized enterprises, and government procurement, realize the opening of the negative list model in the fields of investment and service w88, achieve more diversity, flexibility and comprehensiveness in the field of rules of origin, and provide support for enterprises to use the "Agreement".
The third is to give full play to the binding role of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement and expand bilateral economic and w88 cooperation channels. Give full play to the Sino-Swiss Joint Economic and w88 Committee mechanism to assist Chinese companies to invest in Europe and Swiss technology to incubate and implement in China, so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results for both parties. Refine the relevant content on industrial cooperation in the economic cooperation chapter of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, give full play to their respective complementary advantages in capital, market and technology, and create more favorable conditions for the development of bilateral w88 and investment. Explore the inclusion of joint promotion of the “Belt and Road” construction as a chapter in the upgrade of the China-Switzerland Free w88 Agreement, strengthen third-party market cooperation in energy, transportation and other fields in the “Belt and Road” co-building countries, and improve the stickiness of the industrial and supply chains of the two countries.
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