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A free trade agreement between the EFTA states and Chile has existed since 2004. But there were some gaps compared to newer free trade agreements in Switzerland, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) announced on Saturday. Negotiations for the modernization of the agreement, which have been ongoing since 2019, have been concluded successfully.
The new agreement offers wider market access and improves the legal framework for economic actors. Minister of Economy Guy Parmelin expressed his satisfaction with the successful outcome of the X short message service. The agreement provides economic actors with greater predictability.
According to Seco, with the modernization of the agreement, 99.99 percent of Swiss exports to Chile will be duty-free in the future. The agreement included provisions on trade and sustainable development, financial services, SMEs and e-commerce, among others. It also now guarantees the protection of important Swiss geographical information. It also now covers all intellectual property rights and their enforcement. Chile is an important trading partner of Switzerland in Latin America, according to Seco. Bilateral goods trade has increased steadily since the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement, reaching 1.2 billion francs in 2022. Trade in services also increased, reaching nearly 500 million francs in 2022.
Swiss investments in Chile also grew. The Swiss private sector maintains its presence in various sectors in Chile and provides employment around . 18,000 people.
The texts of the new agreement will be legally cleared in the next few weeks. The agreement is planned to be signed at the EFTA ministerial conference in Geneva in June with Bundestag Member Guy Parmelin.
Economy Minister Parmelin also announced at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos GR on Thursday that the free trade agreement, which has been planned for years between the Efta states and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, should be signed this year.
(SDA)
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
