Modi's Swiss partnership Full October 5 statement

Oct 5

At the press meet with the Swiss president, Narendra Modi welcomes him and praises his commitment to bilateral relations. Modi recalls bringing the India–EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement into force the previous October and presents $100 billion of investment and one million direct jobs over fifteen years as goals. He invokes Vivekananda's and Gandhi's Swiss visits and describes innovation, infrastructure and advanced technology as pillars of the partnership. He says decisions have been taken to expand Swiss market access for Indian agricultural, pharmaceutical, textile and engineering exports and facilitate investment, anticipating Swiss investment in biotechnology, life sciences, banking, insurance, food processing and sustainability and stronger supply chains. He reports new military-exchange and defence-production possibilities and agreement to deepen nuclear-energy cooperation. Citing the Varanasi ropeway, Jewar Airport and mountain rail and tunnelling projects as examples, he announces a transport, mobility and infrastructure agreement and invites Swiss investment and participation in capacity building, design and manufacturing. He says joint health, clean-energy and space research will launch soon and welcomes a science-startup capacity agreement with what he calls 'Zurich University'. He also reports discussions on yoga and Ayurveda. He announces the Migration and Mobility Partnership and Young Professionals agreements signed that day, predicting opportunities for Indian students, researchers, professionals and young people. He reiterates shared democratic and diplomatic values, support for peace efforts in Ukraine and West Asia, and the need to reform global institutions. He says an India–EFTA Prosperity Summit will be held on October 7 with the Swiss president and business leaders. Recalling India's February AI summit, which he calls the world's largest, he supports next year's Geneva AI Summit and continued joint work toward responsible, inclusive, human-centred AI. The investment, job, research and summit outcomes remain stated ambitions or plans.

In his October 5 statement, Modi says an India–EFTA Prosperity Summit will be held on October 7 with Swiss President Parmelin and India–EFTA business leaders. Thanking the president for bringing a large business delegation, he describes the planned summit as a platform to turn the trade and investment partnership's promise into concrete outcomes. This is the announcement and preparation of a future summit, not a report of October 7 proceedings or agreements.