sim celebration: 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between CN and CH
Deepening cooperation in financial and medical fields in the future
January 17 was the day of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland, also the ending day of the official visit of Isabelle Moret, speaker of the Swiss Federal Parliament, to China. The Swiss Embassy in China will hold a series of celebrations to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland in Beijing this year.
Bernardino Regazzoni, the Swiss ambassador to China, answered questions from the CBN and other media at a press conference held at the ambassador’s residence in Beijing on the same day, and looked into the distance of cooperation opportunities between China and Switzerland in finance, innovation and other fields.
The strategic partnership defined and named “innovation”
In 2013, China and Switzerland signed the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement, thus Switzerland became the first Continental European country to sign bilateral free trade agreements with China.
In 2016, China and Switzerland established an innovative strategic partnership, which is enough to highlight the uniqueness of Switzerland. “There are many countries that have established strategic partnership with China, but only the one with Switzerland is named after innovation,” said Regazzoni.
In April 2019, President Ueli Maurer of the Swiss Confederation paid a state visit to China. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding with special attention to financial and economic affairs under the “Belt and Road” initiative.
In the field of economic and trading relations, since 2010, China has become Switzerland’s main economic partner in Asia, and the third largest trading partner in the world. In addition, according to the survey of the Swiss global enterprise organization and the Swiss economic society, China remained the most attractive international market for Swiss enterprises, which was based on the data in 2019.
Regazzoni introduced that in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary, in addition to a series of rich cultural exchange activities, Switzerland specially selected the focus of common concern between China and Switzerland as the theme and named it “intellectual and sustainable development”.
“Switzerland has been rated as the most innovative country in the world for nine consecutive years, and it is not only about bringing ideas, but also to transform the ideas into specific projects with economic value, to provide a new model for social development, which is also the direction China looks forward to. So in recent years, there are many important cooperation projects between China and Switzerland, and a large number of Swiss start-ups come to China. On the one hand, their existence is to promote innovative ideas, on the other hand, they also hope to attract funding.”
Regazzoni informed that Switzerland hopes to inject strong impetus for social development through innovation, in which energy conservation is one of the important areas. He said that Swiss representatives visited the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on the 17th, hoping to carry out innovative cooperation with China in large-scale sports events, and fill in the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development. In addition, the China-Switzerland Energy Forum will also be held this year, in which several Swiss federal government officials will participate.
Strengthen cooperation in financial and medical fields
In the past two years, China has released unprecedented signals of opening up of the financial industry, like abolishing the restrictions on the proportion of foreign shares held by banks and financial asset management companies, encouraging the introduction of foreign investment in major banking financial fields, and setting no upper limit on the proportion of foreign shares held by newly established financial asset investment companies and financial management companies of commercial banks.
When the CBN reporter asked if this would have a positive impact on the Swiss financial industry, Regazzoni replied: “The financial industry is a very important pillar industry for Switzerland, especially for Swiss enterprises in China, because most major Swiss financial institutions have branches in China. In 2018, Swiss Bank Co., Ltd. increased its shareholding in UBS Securities Co., Ltd. to 51%. The joint venture has also become the first foreign-owned securities company in China. ”
What is less known is that the pharmaceutical industry is one of the mainstays of the Swiss economy, contributing 30% of Switzerland’s exports. At present, the Swiss pharmaceutical industry provides more than 30000 products to the world. According to the global income ranking of multinational pharmaceutical enterprises in 2018, Roche and Novartis are both in the top 10. For the cooperation between China and Switzerland in this field, Moret, who has focused on disease prevention since taking office, admitted that in Switzerland, the problem of expensive medical treatment also exists, so the state is studying how to achieve the best medical insurance system with the least cost.
“There is a broad prospect for cooperation between China and Switzerland. On the one hand, we can provide our Chinese colleagues with rich experience, as well as technology in medical research, development and innovation. China’s huge population base and advanced experience in big data and artificial intelligence can provide us with research basis,” said Moret. This kind of cooperation can benefit the patients of both countries, and at the same time, the medical insurance expenses of both countries will be reduced, that is to say, the medical treatment will not be so expensive afterwards.”
For further diplomatic history between Switzerland and China, please check When Switzerland recognised the new China on swissinfo.ch for more information.
