PM Narendra Modi To Attend WEF Summit In Switzerland

PM Narendra Modi, will be on a two-day visit to Switzerland on January 22-23, where he will participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit that will be held on 23 January in Davos-Klosters.

PM Modi will deliver a keynote speech at the plenary session of the 48th WEF. The theme of WEF this year will be creating a shared future in a fracture world.

During the visit, Modi is set to have a bilateral meeting with the president of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset.

As on (April-Feb., 2015-16), India and Switzerland have a total bilateral trade including merchandise exports, bullion and IT services and software exports, amounting to US$ 23.2 billion.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has shown generally a positive trend despite the global economic slowdown. India has a share of only about 0.34 % of the Swiss import basket while Indian imports from Switzerland constitute about 4.9% of total Indian imports.

From April 2000 to September 2015, Switzerland has invested extensively in India, approximately 2.18 billion USD. This made the country the 11th largest investor in India, accounting for about 1.2 per cent of the total FDI in India during this period.

More than 250 Swiss companies have a presence in India through their own subsidiaries and joint ventures.

About 100 Indian companies have invested about USD 1.2 billion between 2012 and 2014 in Switzerland, placing it among the top five European investment destinations and top-ten places globally for Indian investors. Major Indian IT companies including TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, etc. have their offices in Switzerland.