On May 24, 2013, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council and Swiss President Ueli Maurer jointly met the press following their talks in Bern.

Li Keqiang said, I and President Maurer have held long hours of friendly and candid talks, reaching quite a number of important consensuses. China and Switzerland are good friends and good partners. I and Swiss leaders decided to launch negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) during my visit to Switzerland in 2010. Today, the two countries have signed relative cooperative documents on concluding the FTA negotiations, which is a great event in the history of China-Switzerland relations. It will create a vast space for the development of bilateral economic and trade relationship and is also conducive to the development of China-Europe relations. The agreement, high in quality and rich in content, indicates that China and Switzerland firmly oppose trade protectionism, and that China will take further steps in expanding its opening up. It will also play a significant and active role in promoting the liberalization of world trade.

Li Keqiang expressed that the two sides agreed to adhere to the principles of mutual respect and equality in political affairs, to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation and to closely communicate and cooperate with each other on regional and international affairs. The both sides also agreed to carry out closer cooperation in the fields of trade and economy and to establish a financial dialogue mechanism. He believes that more miracles will come out from cooperation in the areas of manufacturing and finance.

Li Keqiang stressed that since China and Switzerland are different in respect of the history, the culture and the national conditions, the two countries may have different views on some issues, but the common interests far outweigh the differences. As long as the both sides adhere to equal dialogue, frequent exchanges and enhancing understanding, there will be no problem that cannot be solved between the two countries.

Li Keqiang at the end noted that it requires a peaceful and stable environment both for Switzerland to achieve economic prosperity and for China to realize modernization goals. China will unswervingly take a path of peaceful development and pursue an opening up strategy for mutual benefit and win-win results. One must let others develop while developing itself, and let others benefit while benefiting itself. It is a must rule against the background of globalization. China has always been committed to peaceful coexistence and common development with other countries in the world.

Maurer noted that Switzerland and China have enjoyed sound development in the bilateral relations for years. Switzerland is honoured to become the first continental European country to establish a free trade area and set up the financial dialogue mechanism with China. He believes that it will strongly promote development of Switzerland and lay a more solid foundation for the long-term development of the Switzerland-China relationship. Switzerland is willing to work with China to deepen their all-round cooperation and to push forward the bilateral relationship to a new level.

Prior to meeting the press, the two leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in the fields of economy and trade, finance, human resources and education.