UK and Swiss relations can thrive outside EU
A mountainous country that loves its neutrality, referendums and direct democracy might look like an unlikely partner for the United Kingdom, but our common interests in open markets, human rights, innovation, multilateral solutions and the rule of law have forged a close relationship between Switzerland and the United Kingdom. From political dialogues to trade agreements, thematic platforms and scientific links, our two countries have developed a wide range of instruments to foster bilateral exchange – a cooperation that has only grown in importance with both countries outside the European Union.
From the beginning of the 19th century, Switzerland and its dramatic landscapes attracted and inspired British artists: Frankenstein was born on the shores of Lake Geneva, Sherlock Holmes disappeared into a waterfall in the Bernese Alps and James Bond skied down the Schilthorn without a hair out of place. This romantic and sometimes stereotypical image of Switzerland continues to shape the way our country is perceived. Yet the strength of our relationship with the United Kingdom today lies in the capacity of our two economies to look ahead and innovate.
One of the best known common features of both our economies are our state-of-the-art financial centres. With both countries outside the European Union, it's important to strengthen our cooperation to provide the best possible framework conditions for our banks, insurers and wealth managers. In an ambitious and pioneering endeavour, we are currently negotiating a mutual recognition agreement that would provide easier market access for our financial service providers.
In July 1919, the Swiss baker and confectioner Fritz Bützer opened a coffee shop at Harrogate. He called his café “Betty’s” and with hard work, high-quality products and innovative concepts developed his business into one of Yorkshire’s biggest brands. Today, the company is known as “Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate” and runs not only several fine coffee shops but also produces the popular Taylors Coffee and Yorkshire Tea.
This historic reference is more than a random anecdote. With a penchant for free trade, innovative products and high-quality services, the United Kingdom and Switzerland have become major trade and investment partners. With an annual trade volume of £40 billion, Switzerland is the UK’s seventh largest export market and Swiss companies provide around 90,000 jobs in the United Kingdom.
We have just embarked on a negotiation for a modernised free trade agreement between Switzerland and the UK. We want to go beyond the current trade agreement in goods and include the bulk of our modern trade exchange - the trade in services. The first round of these negotiations started in June to discuss improvements in around thirty thematic areas, such as mobility, e-commerce and digital trade or intellectual property protection.
There is one major Swiss service industry in particular which owes its development to British travellers. Some 130 years ago, a British journalist wrote an article in the Strand magazine on the subject of “An Alpine Pass on Ski”. This was the first article on skiing in Switzerland published in the British press. The author of this piece was the famous British novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to whom the Swiss owe a deep gratitude for helping to introduce skiing to Switzerland and to popularize the sport in Britain. Tourism – not just in winter – remains a key feature of our bilateral exchange.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation George Freeman refers to the United Kingdom and Switzerland as being “science superpowers” and rightly so. Switzerland has been named the most innovative economy in the world for the past 12 consecutive years. Together, our countries are at the forefront of research in life science, AI and quantum computing, as well as being home to the best universities in Europe. That is why we signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2022 to deepen UK-Swiss scientific and research cooperation – independent from our status inside or outside the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme.
With so much ground covered, what could be next? We both see more potential in our exchanges between people. Mobility of our service providers in both directions is key to making a free trade agreement work. We also want our younger citizens to have more opportunities to meet, to learn languages from each other and to gain work experience in our respective countries, just as Fritz Bützer in Harrogate and the young British ski instructors that followed in the footsteps of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did. Person-to-person contact is the most efficient way to further strengthen relations and to foster life-long friendships between our two countries. I am confident that the already excellent relationship between Switzerland and the UK has an even brighter future.
Markus Leitner is the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United Kingdom
