ZURICH, November 04 (AJP) -South Korea and Switzerland have agreed to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, digital technology and biotechnology as their free trade partnership enters its third decade, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The pledge came at the seventh round of bilateral policy consultations in Seoul on Tuesday, where South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Chung Eui-hae met Swiss Assistant State Secretary Markus Leitner.
The talks produced no new trade deal or formal agreement. Both sides agreed to increase high-level visits and consultations, with Leitner pointing to progress in economic ties.
Pharmaceuticals have become a major driver of that relationship. South Korean drug exports to Switzerland rose from 120 million dollars in 2019 to an estimated 1.28 billion dollars in 2025, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
The trade that more than tenfold increase has made Switzerland the second-largest export market for South Korean pharmaceuticals after the United States, according to KOTRA.
Switzerland is home to global drugmakers Roche and Novartis, and about 100 Swiss companies operate in South Korea, according to the Swiss government.
The trade relationship rests on South Korea’s free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), whose four members — Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein — are outside the European Union.
The agreement took effect in September 2006, removing tariffs on more than 99 percent of goods traded. It was South Korea’s first free trade deal with European countries.
Trade between South Korea and the four EFTA economies has roughly tripled since 2005, reaching more than 8.5 billion euros in 2025, according to the Swiss and Norwegian ambassadors to Seoul.
In a joint article in September, the Swiss and Norwegian ambassadors noted that the agreement was negotiated “before smartphones, cloud computing and AI became part of everyday business.”
Their priorities include simpler customs procedures and rules for determining where products originate, rather than further tariff cuts. No formal negotiations to update the agreement have been announced, although Seoul has already begun upgrading older trade deals with Singapore and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The consultations also covered Korean Peninsula affairs, following Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis’s visit to North Korea on Oct. 29 and 30 — the first by a Swiss foreign minister since 2003.
Chung asked Switzerland for “continued interest and cooperation on Korean Peninsula issues.”
Switzerland has helped monitor the armistice that halted the Korean War in 1953 through its participation in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea and Switzerland agreed at policy talks in Seoul to expand cooperation in AI, digital technology and biotechnology, but announced no new trade deal.
- The South Korea-EFTA free trade agreement, which covers Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, turns 20 this year, with trade reaching more than 8.5 billion euros in 2025.
- South Korean pharmaceutical exports to Switzerland rose more than tenfold to an estimated $1.28 billion in 2025, making Switzerland the second-largest market for South Korean drugs.
- Tags: South Korea, Switzerland, EFTA, free trade agreement, KOTRA, Chung Eui-hae, Markus Leitner, Ignazio Cassis, pharmaceuticals, Roche, Novartis, North Korea
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