Current Location: Home > Events&Media > Industry Updates
Author: Source: the Internet Published time: May 27, 2013
On May 24, Premier Li Keqiang delivered a speech entitled Working Together toward a New Future of Sino-Swiss Cooperation in Zurich, discussing China’s financial and economic policies and the significance of the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement.
On May 24, Premier Li Keqiang delivered a speech while attending a luncheon for people from the economic and financial community in Zurich.
The Premier said that Switzerland is the first country that he has visited since his premiership, a choice thanks to the close and friendly ties between the two countries. He added that China is the largest Asian trade partner of Switzerland while Swiss investments in China are very active and, most important of all, the success in the negotiations on the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement, will definitely boost the cooperation for development between the two countries.
The Premier said that, for three years, both China and Switzerland have tried to reach an agreement despite their differences and carried out nine rounds of negotiations and it is no easy task to reach such an agreement. He believed that the blueprint will become true one day in the future.
According to the Premier, the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement is rich in contents. As a high-level and extensive agreement, it covers not only goods trade and service trade but also new topics such as environmental protection, employment, IPR, and market competition. Both sides have agreed to grant each other duty-free or low-tariff preferences and to promote the process of free and convenient service trade; this is a mutually-beneficiary arrangement, as it helps to cut trading costs, encourage enterprises to develop through competition, and allow the market to play its fundamental role in resource allocation.
The Premier said that the significance of the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Zone will not be limited to China and Switzerland. As the first free trade zone between China and a Continental country, it is the first free trade zone between China and one of the top 20 economies in the world. It is great news to Sino-Swiss cooperation and to the ties between China and Europe and plays a demonstrative and leading role for the whole world.
As the Premier pointed out, China will more actively expand its openness to the outside world and further speed up the implementation of its free trade zone strategy to obtain “openness dividends” together with its partners in this new era, to create more “reform dividends” together, and share more “development dividends”. In actively promoting the multilateral trade system and regional trade, China has made the arrangement “Two Wheels Running Together”, where China is in principle open to any cooperation beneficial to liberation of trade and investment and regional economic integration. China is against any form of protectionism in trade and investment.
The premier said that China is highly concerned over the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into its PV products and wireless communications equipment initiated by the EU. As such probes will do harm to relevant Chinese industries and enterprises and to the very interests of European costumers and consumers, they are unreasonable and will only promote protectionism. China absolutely objects to the investigations, as it has always advocated solving trade disputes through dialogs and negotiations. He hoped that the EU will properly handle the cases with China’s PV product and wireless communications equipment to maintain the economic ties between China and the Europe in a holistic manner and uphold the principle underlying free trade.
The Premier observed that, as Switzerland is an important financial center in the world, Chins and Switzerland will, by establishing a financial dialog mechanism, strengthen their cooperation in the financial realm. By upholding the policy of deepening financial reform and openness and promoting reforms, development, transformation, and innovation, China has realized sustainable and healthy economic development, while bringing opportunities to the world economy; it advocates stable global financial and economic policies in order to create conditions for global finance stabilization, market recovery, and economic growth; it hopes to perfect and reform the international financial system and, while maintaining the currently reasonable and effective international economic mechanism and rules, enhance international financial regulation, encourage regional financial cooperation, and increase the influence of the developing countries.
Finally the Premier remarked that Switzerland is leading in developing ties with China; it was among the first Western countries that recognized the new China and the first Continental country that has recognized China as a complete market economy and also the first Continental country that entered into a free trade agreement with China. The solid ties between both countries, which serve as a role model of good relationship between different countries and cultures, are attributed to the pioneering spirit shared by both sides. Both China and Switzerland should inherit and promote this spirit of pioneering and enterprising, lead the world in promoting the ties between both sides, and continue the pursuit of excellence.
The Premier answered on the spot the questions raised by some of the luncheon attendees regarding the Chinese economic situation and future trends.
The luncheon was attended by Schneider-Ammann, member of the Swiss Federal Council and head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, and Jordan, head of the Swiss National Bank, and 300 people from the Swiss economic and financial community. In his speech, Schneider-Ammann said that the development of China has strongly boosted the global economic development and Switzerland and China have been close in their economic ties and that the free trade agreement between both countries will lead their economic and trade cooperation to a new phase in history. He added that Switzerland will work with China to turn the agreement into actual achievements.
