Interview with Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch

FSPI: The main aim of a country’s foreign economic policy is to defend its interests on the external front while ensuring the prosperity of its population. What are the main strategic objectives pursued by Swiss policy to meet the challenges posed by developments in the global economy and international trade?
Switzerland’s foreign economic policy aims to ensure a rules-based trading system and access to foreign markets for our companies. For Switzerland, the WTO multilateral trading system is the basis for the applicable trade rules. As for access to foreign markets, free trade agreements aim to ensure preferential access for Swiss companies. With regard to our most important and closest partner, the European Union, Switzerland is pursuing a bilateral path with participation in the EU’s internal market.

 

FSPI: Switzerland’s prosperity and the continued competitiveness of its economy are undoubtedly heavily dependent on international trade. In your opinion, what are the main fundamentals of the Swiss economy that enable it to be often more resilient in the event of an economic or financial crisis than those of its main trading partners?

One of our major strengths is the framework conditions that we have been providing for a long time, and which have served us very well to date. To name but a few: our education system with the possibility of vocational training, our fluid labor market, our stable institutions and our openness to the international market. We’ll have to make sure we maintain our framework conditions in the future too!

 

FSPI: In order to meet global challenges, Switzerland has made the multilateral approach, particularly within the WTO, a priority, while promoting the use of non-discriminatory international standards that stimulate competition and pursue sustainable development objectives. At the same time, it is fully committed to the integration of developing and emerging countries into the global economy. In this context, how does it manage to reconcile a certain protectionism of its agriculture with the promotion of market access for foreign agricultural products? Similarly, at what cost does it manage to ensure the protection of its patents (particularly those in the pharmaceutical industry) while seeking easier access to the services sector and to investment in emerging and developing countries?

In the agreements concluded to date, we have managed to find solutions to meet our partners’ demands for access to our agricultural markets, by granting targeted access for a limited number of products of interest to our partners. As for intellectual property protection, in recent years a number of partners have also developed an interest in better protection. These two issues are among those being discussed in the negotiations, which include many others, such as Swiss access to our partners’ industrial markets, the inclusion of sustainability issues in the agreements, or our partners’ access to some of our services markets.

 

FSPI: Three years after the beginning of the pandemic COVID-19 and a few months after the end of the emergency sanitary declared by the OMS, what is your look on the role played by the Switzerland in the global management of the pandemic, including what concerns the access to vaccines? In June 2022, you represented Switzerland in the vaccine negotiations with WTO countries, which resulted in the temporary lifting of patents on COVID-19 vaccines. This agreement has been described as a “compromise”, but it does not fundamentally challenge Switzerland’s position on intellectual property and technology transfer. Do you think the multilateral trading system is suited to the collective management of future pandemics, and do you think Switzerland has a particular role to play?

Switzerland played an active role during the pandemic, speaking out against product blocking measures taken in the first weeks of the pandemic in March and April 2020, and thus emphasizing the need to safeguard the functioning of the multilateral trading system. I am convinced that the trade system is well suited to managing future pandemics, as it is thanks to this system that we have ultimately seen only a limited number of permanent protectionist decisions taken during the pandemic. The decision on COVID-19 vaccines, which provides more flexibility for compulsory licensing, was a decision which, in my view, risks giving a false signal to innovative companies. But it was an acceptable compromise for Switzerland to ensure the success of the WTO Ministerial in June 2022.

 

FSPI: Climate was one of the main focuses of Switzerland’s international cooperation strategy for the period 2021-2024. How do you see the role of Swiss economic diplomacy in preparing societies and economies in the South for resilience, particularly in the face of climate change? What challenges and opportunities do you see for Switzerland in this respect, particularly with regard to economic cooperation in sustainable development, and collaboration with international financial institutions and the private sector?
One of the aims of Switzerland’s economic cooperation is to help developing countries cope with climate change. The Federal Council had therefore earmarked a specific financial envelope for this type of development project for the period 2021-2024. The Federal Council’s project for the period 2025-2027, which is currently under consultation, also provides for such a financial envelope. I’m convinced that Switzerland is well placed to help the countries of the South with their economic development. Given the enormous need for economic support worldwide, collaboration with international financial institutions and the private sector is a must.

 

FSPI: Does the current geopolitical context, particularly with the outbreak of war in Ukraine – and the sanctions that followed – but also the growing importance and enlargement in sight of the BRICS countries, or the sharp Sino-American trade tensions, make it more difficult to harmonize and align Switzerland’s economic policies with its broader foreign policy?

The developments of recent years pose particular challenges for both economic and foreign policy. An ever-changing, multipolar world and an increasingly fragmented global economy are putting great pressure on the multilateralism so dear to Switzerland. We must ensure that we remain true to our Western and European values, while securing our economic relations with the world’s major markets. At the same time, to promote our interests, we need to form coalitions with countries that share these interests, in order to promote them internationally.