The UK will on Monday [14 October] kickstart negotiations with
Switzerland on an enhanced and upgraded Free Trade Agreement
(FTA).
Switzerland is the UK's 10th largest trading partner and 7th
largest export market, with total trade between our two countries
worth £51bn in 2023. The talks, the first to take place under
this Government, provide a chance to further strengthen our
trading relationship, drive economic growth and create jobs
across the UK.
The UK and Switzerland are both leading service-based economies,
with services trade accounting for nearly £30 billion of UK-Swiss
trade, despite our existing trade agreement focusing mostly on
goods.
A modern deal could support jobs in all UK nations and regions,
including 120,000 services jobs directly linked to trade with
Switzerland, and provide much needed long-term certainty on
travel arrangements for UK firms. Nestlé Purina recently
announced a £150m investment to revamp facilities at its factory
in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, installing new technology and
creating 40 new jobs.
Negotiations resume as the UK Government welcomes global
investors to the International Investment Summit in London next
week. The summit will make clear that the UK is “open for
business” as the government resets relations with trading
partners around the globe. The upgraded UK-Switzerland FTA will
include detailed commitments on services and investment for the
first time, providing UK and Swiss businesses with guaranteed
access to one another's markets to encourage investment and
services trade in both directions.
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.
Trade between our two nations has quadrupled 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.
Zurich Insurance Group UK CEO Tim Bailey said:
As a global insurer and large investor in the UK, we fully
welcome the ever-closer trading relationship between the UK and
Switzerland.
We have a large presence throughout the UK and we're proud to
partner with people, communities and businesses in managing risk.
Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, Chris
Hayward, said:
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.
We hope a trade agreement would build on and support the landmark
Berne Financial Services Agreement, signed last year, which
provided mutual recognition in financial services – the first
agreement of its kind globally. We hope that the UK-Switzerland
free trade agreement would maintain this focus on improving
services trade still further.
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% of all services exported from the UK to
Switzerland were digitally delivered in 2021.
Monday marks 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 GCC just last month and is coordinating with other FTA
partners to get negotiators back in the room as soon as possible.
Notes to editor:
- As of 2022, the stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) from
Switzerland into the UK totalled £61.9 billion. Going the other
way, the stock of FDI from the UK into Switzerland totalled £52.4
billion.
- In 2020, Scotland and the North West were each estimated to
have exported more than £700 million of services to Switzerland,
30% of them in financial and insurance services.
