India Switzerland Relations

• 09 Dec 2020

Why in News

A virtual meeting took place recently between an Indian Minister and his Swiss Counterpart.

Key Points

• Trade:
  
  • Both the Ministers reiterated the desire to move forward on the India-EFTA Trade & Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) negotiations.
    
    • The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is the intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
    • These countries are not part of the European Union (EU) with which India is negotiating a separate trade agreement called the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement.
  • The proposed agreement covers trade in goods and services, investments, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, protection of intellectual property and public procurement.
  • India-Switzerland Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT)which is under negotiation was also discussed.
    
    • BITs are treaties between two countries aimed at protecting investments made by investors of both countries.
• Multilateral Forums:
  
  • The Indian Minister sought support of Switzerland for the joint proposal of India and South Africa in World Trade Organization (WTO) for TRIPS waiver.
    
    • South Africa and India have called for the (WTO) to suspend intellectual property (IP) rights related to Covid-19 to ensure equitable sharing of vaccines and new technology to control the pandemic.
      
      • A temporary ban would allow multiple actors to start production, instead of having manufacturing concentrated in the hands of a small number of patent holders.

India Switzerland Relations

• Background:
  
  • India and Switzerland have had cordial and friendly relations since India’s Independence, based on shared values of democracy and rule of law. A Treaty of Friendship between India and Switzerland was signed at New Delhi in 1948.
• Economic Relation:
  
  • Trade:
    
    • As per EXIM Bank, Switzerland was the 11^th largest trading partner for India in 2018-19.
  • Investment:
    
    • Switzerland invested FDI equity worth approximately USD 4.781 billion in India from April 2000 to September 2019 thus becoming the 12^th largest investor and accounting for about 1.07% of total FDI in India during this period
• Science and Technology:
  
  • During the visit of Swiss President to India in 2003, an inter-Governmental framework Agreement on Technical and Scientific Cooperation was signed under which an Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme (ISJRP) was launched in 2005.
• Skill Training:
  
  • Several Institutes from both the countries have collaborated to impart the highest standards of skill training in India. E.g.:
    
    • Bharatiya Skill Development Campus and University.
    • Indo-Swiss Centre of Excellence, Pune.
    • Vocational Training Center, Andhra Pradesh.

Source:PIB