External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with his New Zealand counterpart Ignazio Daniele Giovanni.
Geneva: The friendship between India and Switzerland is now going to touch a new height. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a visit to Switzerland, extensively discussed bilateral relations with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Daniele Giovanni Cassis to give a new dimension to this friendship. During this, the focus was on taking advantage of the trade agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The Ministry of External Affairs gave this information on Saturday. Switzerland is also included in this association of four countries.
Jaishankar was here on a two-day visit, which concluded on Friday. Cassis hosted Jaishankar in Geneva as a special courtesy visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. “The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relations, with a special focus on leveraging the free trade agreement between India and EFTA member countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) to promote trade and investment,” the statement said. India signed a ‘Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement’ (TEPA) with the European Free Trade Association in March, under which India will receive US $ 100 billion in investment from these four European countries.
Talks on these issues
During the meeting, Jaishankar and Cassis also discussed global and regional issues of mutual interest. During his visit, Jaishankar also met top leadership of Geneva-based international organisations. These include UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. They shared India’s approach to multilateralism, its vision for improving human rights, the current global human rights situation and ways to address various challenges to the human rights environment. They also discussed ways to further enhance cooperation in public health and promote traditional medicine systems globally.
The statement said that he also inaugurated the newly built state-of-the-art Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, which houses India’s missions associated with the United Nations and other international organizations, the Conference on Disarmament, the World Trade Organization and the Consulate General of India. He also unveiled the statue of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution of India, at the Permanent Mission here. He honored Indian social reformer and teacher Hansa Mehta by naming a hall in her memory at the mission. Mehta served as the Indian representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission from 1947 to 1948. (Language)
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