Press Release: EU and Switzerland launch negotiations on full trade liberalisation in the agro-food sector

EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel and Swiss Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, launched negotiations aiming at full liberalisation of trade in agriculture between the EU and Switzerland. Given their geographical proximity and the volume of bilateral trade, both parties are obvious partners for fully liberalised trade exchanges. The upcoming negotiations are a logical continuation of the liberalization process, which has been ongoing since the 1972 Agreement and which is enshrined, as far as agriculture is concerned, in the 1999 bilateral Agriculture Agreement.