Negotiations for a new free trade agreement (FTA) between Switzerland and Britain will start later this month, according to a joint statement. Swiss Economic Minister Guy Parmelin met with his British counterpart, Kemi Badenoch, in Bern on Monday to give negotiations the green light from May 22. + Lofty ambitions for ‘innovative’ Swiss-British financial services deal The two countries have also been negotiating ways to boost the trade of cross-border financial services. An existing stop-gap trade treaty between the two countries was thrashed out in 2019 to keep many measures in place that existed when Britain was part of the European Union. This treaty was largely based on the provisions of the Swiss-EU FTA signed in 1972. That treaty is outdated, according to the British Department for Business and Trade, because it was signed “before the advent of the home computer or the internet – and does not cover services, investment, digital or data”. "Prize on offer" “As two of the...
