6 wine regions, 2,500 winemakers, 252 grape varieties, and over 100 million litres per year, but only 1% exported.

In a joint venture, the Swiss Business Hub UK and the Defence Attaché Office organised a two-part UK-Swiss Space Exchange to identify strategic interests, discuss opportunities for collaboration and celebrate shared successes in this exciting domain.

During the Farnborough International Airshow 2024, the Swiss Business Hub UK (SBH UK) led a fact-finding mission for Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The SMEs represented included consultants, parts manufacturers, AI innovators and drone designers from across Switzerland. SBH UK and Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) co-orchestrated three site visits for the delegation and key tours at the Airshow itself. The mission was of high networking value and contributed to the strongest Swiss presence at the Airshow in several years.

Representatives from the UK public and private sectors joined us in Switzerland for a multi-day working visit covering digital trade and customs. Here are the highlights.

Deputy Ambassador Chantal Moser was presented with the WPP BAV "Best Country" award for Switzerland at a reception in the UK House of Commons, hosted by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP and attended by Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake.

Between the signing of the Berne Financial Services Agreement and attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt found time for another Swiss stopover – joining Ambassador Markus Leitner and 18 Swiss business leaders for lunch at the Embassy in early January.

The Swiss Business Hub UK+Ireland once again held its annual high-performance engineering fact-finding mission at Silverstone for exchanges in motorsports. Since 2018, the delegation has toured the UK’s legendary “motorsports valley” five times with the Business Hub.

The current UK-Switzerland bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) entered into force on 1 January 2021 after existing agreements were rolled over to avoid a cliff-edge situation following Brexit. It is the foundation both trading partners are building on and provides for duty-free bilateral trade in industrial goods and for a partial liberalization of trade in processed agricultural products. On 15 May 2023 Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin met with his UK counterpart, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, in Bern to launch negotiations on a new UK-Switzerland FTA to boost trade between Switzerland and the UK as two services superpowers.

On 14 September 2023, the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK held the first edition of our Soirée Suisse at the Royal Academy of Arts.

NatalieThomas, Head of the Swiss Business Hub UK shares her experience and outlook on the flourishing trade relations between Switzerland and the UK with the readers of "London Business Matters", the magazine of the London Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin visited London on 14 June 2023 to meet his British counterpart, Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch, for the signing of an agreement between Switzerland and the UK on the recognition of professional qualifications.

The current UK-Switzerland bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) entered into force on 1 January 2021 after existing agreements were rolled over to avoid a cliff-edge situation following Brexit. On 15 May 2023 Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin met with his UK counterpart, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, in Bern to launch negotiations on a new UK-Switzerland free trade agreement (FTA) to boost trade between Switzerland and the UK as two services superpowers. The current trade agreement provides for duty-free bilateral trade in industrial goods and for a partial liberalization of trade in processed agricultural products. It is time for a modernisation of the bilateral FTA that allows us to expand the agreement to new areas of trade, particularly in services.

For Wales Week 2023, we had the pleasure of being joined by the Secretary of State for Wales David TC Davies, for an event to highlight the mutual interest between Switzerland and Wales in learning from and investing in each other. And, though it may not seem so at first, our languages create some commonalities as well and we welcomed some outstanding speakers to raise awareness of the efforts by Switzerland and Wales to preserve and promote minority languages.

On 30th November, the Performance Engineering Mission 2022 introduced a delegation of six high-level Swiss companies to high-tech industry leaders in the UK automotive and motorsports industries.

The Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) was signed by Ambassador Markus Leitner and Amanda Brooks, Director General for Trade Negotiations in London on 17 November.

As part of the #WeAreSwitzerland tour of the UK, the Embassy, in co-operation with the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce (BSCC), visited Manchester to highlight Switzerland’s strong economic footprint in the Northern Powerhouse.

Throughout the month of June, the Swiss Embassy will tour the UK, with events and meetings held in Cambridge, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Bristol, Cardiff and Oxford to highlight the many links between Switzerland and the UK.

On Thursday 28 April, President Ignazio Cassis met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss in London. President Cassis was also invited to pay a courtesy visit to Queen Elizabeth II.