On the morning of January 15, 2024 local time, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council held talks with President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd in Bern. Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research Guy Parmelin attended the talks.

Li Qiang said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 74 years ago, bilateral relations have made great progress and set many "firsts". In 2016, President Xi Jinping and then Swiss leader jointly announced the establishment of the China-Switzerland innovative strategic partnership, which has provided important guidance for the development of bilateral relations. China is ready to work with Switzerland to follow through on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, further consolidate the foundation of political mutual trust, carry forward the spirit of China-Switzerland cooperation featuring "equality, innovation, and mutual benefit", promote the continuous development of bilateral relations and yield more practical results in mutually beneficial cooperation.

Li Qiang pointed out that China stands ready to continue to push for closer high-level exchanges with Switzerland, better play the role of the dialogue and cooperation mechanism between the two governments, and accelerate the resumption of exchanges at various levels and in diverse fields. Both sides should explore more converging interests, bolster cooperation in free trade, customs, and other fields, and foster and strengthen new growth areas of cooperation in green development, finance, and digital economy, so as to elevate and upgrade bilateral economic and trade cooperation. China hopes that the Swiss side will continue to provide an open, fair, and nondiscriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises in Switzerland. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Switzerland in cultural relics, education, youth, sports, and other fields. The two sides should keep closer communication and coordination within multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, strengthen cooperation in the fields of connectivity infrastructure financing, international development assistance, and climate change response, and jointly make positive contributions to the cause of world peace and development.

Amherd and Parmelin said that Switzerland was one of the first countries to recognize the People's Republic of China. The Switzerland-China relationship enjoys a long history and rich connotations, and their economic, trade and investment cooperation has been continuously strengthened despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Switzerland stands ready to continue to promote high-quality bilateral dialogue with China, deepen cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, education, finance, science and technology as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, jointly address global challenges including climate change, public health, and cyber security, and promote greater development of the Switzerland-China innovative strategic partnership in the Year of the Dragon.

The two sides announced that China and Switzerland have completed the joint feasibility study on upgrading the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and agreed to support the early launch of formal FTA upgrade negotiations. The two sides will hold a new round of China-Switzerland strategic dialogue at the foreign ministerial level, working group meetings on finance and energy, education policy dialogue, as well as consultations on UN Security Council affairs within this year and take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year as an opportunity to strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China will grant unilateral visa-free treatment to Switzerland, and the Swiss side will provide more visa facilitation for Chinese citizens as well as Chinese enterprises investing in Switzerland.

After the talks, the leaders of the two countries witnessed the signing of documents on bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Prior to the talks, Amherd held a grand welcoming ceremony for Li Qiang at the Lohn Estate. Li Qiang inspected the honor guard in the company of Amherd.