Welcoming the Swiss President, he strived for India and Switzerland to grow and diversify their trade, investment and technological exchanges. He urged for the two nations to pursue even closer business partnerships in priority sectors such as precision and high technology manufacturing, infrastructure, skill development, renewable energy and clean-tech research.
“The President said that Switzerland and India are natural partners. Switzerland is an important trade and investment partner for India. India is a preferred destination for FDI as it is the world’s fastest growing large economy,” stated an official release.
The President said there is scope for creating partnerships between R&D labs and institutions.
He told the Swiss President that India has made great progress in easing the doing of business and achieving a unified market through the new goods and services tax (GST) regime and other similar measures in this direction.
The Swiss President has re-assured to the invite of the Indian President in a later statement by saying, “We will launch Swiss-Indian friendship activities; we came here with 30 representatives of the business society. We can be relevant and reliable partner in programmes like Skill India, Digital India, Clean India, Startup India and Smart cities.”
The visit of the Swiss President assumes special significance as the year 2017 marks a milestone in bilateral relations between the two nations as India and Switzerland enter the 70th year of their Friendship and Establishment Treaty. Switzerland is India’s 7th largest trading partner and 11th largest foreign investor. The treaty was signed in New Delhi in August of 1948 and holds significance as one of the first treaties to be signed by independent India.