The European Union today (Nov 4) launched negotiations with neighbouring Switzerland to liberalise bilateral trade in agriculture.

Launching the negotiations, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel said: "The EU and Switzerland are neighbours and have much in common; we have made a lot of progress over the years in freeing up bilateral trade, but now we want to take this process to its logical conclusion.

Welcoming Swiss Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs at the talks, the Commissioner said, "i welcome the willingness on the Swiss side to launch these talks and I look forward to working closely with Doris Leuthard. Both sides have much to gain from this process."

Citing geographical proximity and the volume of bilateral trade as obvious reasons, the European Commission stated, "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."

In 2007, total EU agro-food exports to Switzerland amounted to 4.7 billion Euro, whereas the corresponding value of EU import from Switzerland was 2.7 billion Euro. Switzerland is the EU's 3rd biggest trade partner in the sector. 70 percent of Swiss agricultural exports go to the EU market while seven percent of the EU's agro-food exports go to Switzerland.