CRI听力:China Swiss FTA brings benefits to Swiss small business

Hans-Ulrich Bigler is Director of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium sized enterprises.

He says he expects the visit by the Chinese president to usher in a new stage in their bilateral relationship.

"I hope the visit can help further deepen the relations between China and Switzerland and the two countries will cement cooperation through their free trade agreement."

Six years ago, the two countries launched Free Trade Agreement talks in Davos.

They signed the FTA agreement in 2013 and put it into effect on July 1, 2014.

Official figures show that bilateral trade in the first nine months of last year exceeded 25 billion US dollars, up 9.4 percent year on year, despite a decline in China's trade with Europe as a whole in 2015.

Bigler said the FTA injected momentum into trade and mutual investment which especially benefitted Swiss SME's.

"Small and medium-sized enterprises are interested in all forms of cooperation. The FTA makes it easy for them to find cooperation opportunities. Swiss enterprises are interested in the Chinese market that still keeps growing. They see great development potential and cooperation opportunities in China. Meanwhile, we have also noticed more and more Chinese companies are coming to Switzerland."

Currently, Switzerland is China's 7th largest trading partner in Europe, while China is Switzerland's largest partner in Asia.

Bigler said the pursuit of an open economy has contributed to the win-win cooperation between the two sides and that the promotion of globalization is an area where the two countries should seek stronger cooperation.

"Switzerland has been building up an open economy. It's proven that an open economy can boost growth and employment, while protectionism will bring more losses than gains. Globalization is inevitable and can benefit any economy. China's economy is the most important one in the world. The growth of the world depends on the growth of China. China's prosperity benefits the whole world."

Bigler, who is also a member of the Swiss parliament, came to China in April last year, when then Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann paid a state visit.

As part of that trip, the two sides agreed to establish an uNPRecedented innovative strategic partnership.

Bigler also suggested that besides the economy, the two countries should make greater efforts to seek greater common ground in terms of politics.

For CRI, this is Guan Chao.