On Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Swiss President Guy Parmelin, which led to the signing of pacts on mobility that will ease granting longer duration visas and the exchange of young professionals and agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense and nuclear energy sectors.

After the bipartite meeting with the Swiss President, PM Modi said, “Today, we identified new possibilities for cooperation in military exchanges and defense production. We also reached a consensus on further deepening our collaboration in the field of nuclear energy.”

Regarding interpersonal connections, he remarked that the Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement along with the Young Professionals Agreement signed today will create a wealth of new prospects in Switzerland for Indian students, researchers, professionals, and young people.

The Ministry of External Affairs states that the Memorandum of Understanding seeks to enhance cooperation on migration and mobility, ensuring equal treatment for all while actively working to prevent and address irregular migration, human exploitation, and trafficking in line with national legislation. “It provides for multiple-entry visas for up to 5 years, including stays of up to 6 months on each visit, and renewable 1-year student permits,” it said. The Ministry of External Affairs highlighted that the Young Professionals Agreement facilitates the annual exchange of 300 individuals from each country, with the potential to expand to 500. Additionally, it establishes a timeframe of 30 to 90 days for confirming nationality or residency status, along with various other stipulations. 

Lauding Swiss President Parmelin, Modi said, “I appreciate his commitment to India-Switzerland relations. Last October, with his personal support, we operationalized a historic Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. This is India’s first FTA with any economic bloc in Europe.”

“It is also an ambitious blueprint for investment, innovation, jobs, and shared prosperity. Through this, we aim to realize the goals of attracting $100 billion in investment and creating one million direct jobs in India over the next 15 years.”

Swiss President Parmelin said, “Trade was a key aspect, as my visit marks the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the European Free Trade Association. This partnership benefits both sides: India gains access to capital, technology transfers, and easier access to markets for high-value-added goods. Switzerland, for its part, benefits from trade with a massive partner experiencing sustained growth—at a time when global trade has become more vulnerable and unpredictable.” He said, “I am accompanied by a large delegation of high-ranking business leaders, underscoring our commitment to capitalizing on the opportunities offered by this trade and economic partnership agreement.”

“To further boost investment, Switzerland hopes to conclude an investment protection agreement soon. In this context, achieving results in discussions on intellectual property protection is equally important,” the Swiss President said.

In October last year, the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland came into force. Modi said, “We have taken several important decisions to expand market access for Indian exports to Switzerland and further facilitate investment between the two countries.”

“This will increase India’s exports of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and engineering goods to Switzerland. At the same time, we will attract new Swiss investment in key sectors like biotech, life sciences, banking, insurance, food processing, and sustainability,” he said.

Through these initiatives, we will jointly develop trusted supply chains and reliable solutions for the entire world, he added. Modi said, “The ropeway in Varanasi, the Jewar Airport in Noida, and railways and tunnelling projects in hilly areas are shining examples of our infrastructure cooperation.”

An agreement was also inked for collaboration on transport and infrastructure. “We invite Swiss infrastructure companies to invest in India on a large scale, and to participate in capacity building, design, and manufacturing,” Modi said.

The PM said new joint research projects in priority areas such as health, clean energy, and space will be launched soon.

He said the India-EFTA Prosperity Summit on Wednesday will be an important platform to translate the promise of our trade and investment partnership into concrete outcomes, he said. PM Modi also extended his best wishes to Switzerland for hosting the next edition of the AI Summit next year.

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