Bula Devi reports from New Delhi
New Delhi Feb 14:-
India and Switzerland at the recent 13th round of Foreign Office
Consultations reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral and multilateral
cooperation and discussed regional and global matters of mutual interest.
While the Indian delegation was led by Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) in
the Ministry of External Affairs and the Swiss side was headed by
Alexandre Fasel, State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs.
The discussion focussed over the progress in diverse sectors including
trade and investment, India-EFTA TEPA, innovation and sustainability, air
services matters, technology and mobility. They also discussed ways of
increasing collaboration in new and emerging sectors of digitisation, AI
and Quantum, according to a press statement of the Ministry of External
Affairs.
The co-chairs welcomed the impact of India-Swiss Innovation Platform to
strengthen S&T ties by harnessing innovation capacity to develop the
startup ecosystem of the two countries.
The two sides also discussed the recent opening of EFTA dedicated desk at
Invest India in New Delhi and highlighted its significance for
implementation and operationalisation of the TEPA.
Recognising the positive outcomes of the MoU on ‘Technical cooperation
in the field of Climate Change and Environment’ signed in 2019, co-chairs
looked forward to an early renewal of the MoU.
Both sides agreed to convene the next round of India-Switzerland Foreign
Office Consultations at mutually convenient dates.
