Kemi Badenoch heads to Switzerland to launch talks on new commerce deal
Kemi Badenoch is at this time heading to Switzerland to launch negotiations on a brand new commerce deal.
The Trade Secretary is trying to replace the present settlement – which was signed greater than 50 years in the past – to make it simpler to export providers comparable to monetary, authorized and architectural.
She will meet her Swiss counterpart Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin within the capital Bern.
Ms Badenoch mentioned a modernised deal could be a “huge prize” for the 2 “services superpowers”.
She mentioned: “As two of the world’s leading service economies, there’s a huge prize on offer to both the UK and Switzerland by updating our trading relationship to reflect the strength of our companies working in areas ranging from finance and legal, to accountancy and architecture.
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“The UK and Switzerland are pure buying and selling companions and at this time’s launch will play to our strengths as providers superpowers, whereas additionally boosting funding in rising applied sciences, information innovation, and digital commerce.”
The current deal is effectively a rollover agreement from when Britain was a member of the EU.
The Department for Business and Trade said most of the UK’s services exports to Switzerland are delivered electronically but the existing pact was signed in 1972, before the advent of the internet, and does not cover investment, digital or data.
It added that the new deal could lower tariffs on UK exports to Switzerland, slashing annual duties for British businesses by around £7.4million.
During her visit, Ms Badenoch will go to the SIX Swiss Exchange, Europe’s third biggest stock exchange, and meet female business leaders at Advance, a network of around 140 Swiss companies committed to increasing the number of women in management positions in the country.
It comes as the Government continues its push to forge post-Brexit economic ties outside the EU.
Britain earlier this year struck its biggest deal since leaving the EU with its accession to a bumper Indo-Pacific trade bloc.
Joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) cuts tariffs for British exporters to a group of nations which – with the addition of the UK – has a total gross domestic product (GDP) of £11trillion.
Meanwhile, free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand – the first the UK has negotiated from scratch since Brexit – are set to come into force this month.