Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People Republ : Li Yuanchao Meets with President Johann Schneider-Ammann of the Swiss Confederation

On January 21, 2016 local time, Vice President Li Yuanchao met with President Johann Schneider-Ammann of the Swiss Confederation when attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016 in Davos, Switzerland.

Li Yuanchao firstly conveyed kind greetings from President Xi Jinping and congratulated Johann Schneider-Ammann on taking up the presidency of the Swiss Confederation. Li Yuanchao said that, in recent years, China-Switzerland relations have maintained a sound momentum of vigorous development and practical cooperation in different fields has yielded fruitful results. Switzerland is an important cooperative partner of China in Europe, and China stands ready to make joint efforts with the new Swiss Confederation government to constantly deepen the bilateral friendly cooperative relations featuring equal treatment, mutual benefits and win-win results. It is expected that both sides can further promote political mutual trust, strengthen high-level exchanges, and firmly seize the overall direction of bilateral relations. The two countries should continue fostering the twin engine of 'free trade' and 'finance', and encourage enterprises of both countries to make good use of the preferential treatments stipulated in the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in a wider range. The Chinese side welcomes Switzerland to continuously participate in the progress of the RMB internationalization and stands ready to work with Switzerland to enhance cooperation within the framework of global financial governance institutions, G20 fiscal and financial channels and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The two sides should also release the vitality of China-Switzerland relations through innovation cooperation, and combine China's market potential and its need for economic transition and upgrading with Switzerland's advantages in technology and innovation, so as to forge new highlights in cooperation. Both sides should constantly enrich the people-to-people and cultural connotation of bilateral relations and continue strengthening exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, tourism, sports, personnel training and other fields.

Li Yuanchao expressed that, China welcomes Switzerland's positive response and support in the construction of the 'Belt and Road' , and looks forward to enhancing policy docking with Switzerland and discussing more cooperation in infrastructure, finance, production capacity and other fields, so as to give full play to respective advantages and realize win-win cooperation.

Johann Schneider-Ammann asked Li Yuanchao to convey his best wishes to President Xi Jinping, and expressed that the exchanges between Switzerland and China enjoy a long history and bilateral cooperation enjoys bright prospects. The implementation of the FTA between the two countries further enhances the confidence of Swiss enterprises in cooperation with China and lays a solid foundation for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. China is still an important driving force for global economic growth, and Switzerland is willing to constantly deepen practical cooperation with China in science, technology, innovation and other fields, and jointly meet challenges and achieve win-win results.