While we were preparing this summer newsletter, an encouraging announcement came as Switzerland and China concluded negotiations on optimizing our bilateral FTA. Once signed and implemented, the upgraded FTA will strengthen the competitive position of Swiss exporters and further ease their access to the Chinese market.

At Swiss Centers, we look forward to helping Swiss companies understand and make the most of the opportunities this agreement will bring—and to addressing any practical issues that may arise in their trade with China.

We would also like to draw your attention to the ongoing Swiss Business in China Survey 2026. The survey is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Swiss companies operate in China and how Swiss businesses engaging with Chinese partners perceive the current market environment. Your insights are invaluable to us, and we would be most grateful for your participation. Join 2026 Swiss Business in China Survey

We are also delighted to welcome new members and patrons who contribute to the diversity and vitality of our growing community.

At Swiss Centers, our commitment remains unchanged: to provide practical support, local expertise, and tailored solutions that help businesses navigate challenges and capture new opportunities.

Together, we will continue to share knowledge, foster connections, and create lasting value for Sino-Swiss economic cooperation.

We wish you all an exciting and productive second half of the year!

Zhen XIAO

CEO of Swiss Centers

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As we approach the end of the year, I am delighted to invite you to reflect with us on a truly remarkable chapter for the Swiss Centers and for Sino-Swiss relations.

2025 stands as a historic double milestone: the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China, and our own 25th anniversary of supporting Swiss businesses in this dynamic market. For a quarter of a century, we have had the privilege of facilitating and witnessing the successful growth of our economic ties, a journey we are immensely proud to share with you.

This foundation propels us forward. As we look to the future, despites the headwinds and uncertainties, our commitment remains unwavering: to provide practical and customized solutions that help Swiss companies navigate, adapt, and thrive in the international market.

To strengthen our impact, we are expanding our circle of Patrons—both corporate and individual partners who share our mission. We call on you to join this growing, vibrant network of the Sino-Swiss business community.

Together, we will leverage our collective experience, share crucial insights, and forge new cooperation. Even in these turbulent times, we see not just challenges, but significant opportunities to explore and build upon.

Thank you for being an essential part of our journey. Here’s to celebrating our shared past and building an even more prosperous future!

Zhen XIAO

CEO

Swiss Centers

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As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves in a perfect moment to reflect on the past, celebrate our achievements, and set our sights on the exciting opportunities that the new year holds.

2024 has been a remarkable year for Swiss Centers, filled with unforgettable moments, successful events, and the expansion of our network. These accomplishments have only been possible thanks to the incredible support and collaboration from our members, partners, and friends.

Looking forward to 2025, we are thrilled to announce that Swiss Centers will be entering its 25th year of empowering Swiss businesses to succeed in China. This coincides with a significant milestone: the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations between Switzerland and China. As we commemorate these milestones, we are planning a series of high-level events and activities that promise to strengthen the bonds between our two countries.

We look forward to continuing our collaboration with you, strengthening ties, and creating more business success and future opportunities.

We wish you all a joyous holiday season and a prosperous year ahead, filled with success and happiness!

Zhen XIAO
CEO
Swiss Centers

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The past few months have been marked by a steady strengthening of Sino-Swiss relations and deepening economic cooperation. Highlighting this positive trend, China has announced unilateral visa-free access for Swiss citizens and the Swiss Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin visited China in the beginning of July meeting high-level Chinese officials and addressing key topics including the modernization of Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement.

As part of the Swiss community actively supporting Sino-Swiss exchanges, Swiss Centers has been engaged with several remarkable events, including the 7th Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Roundtable, Swiss Day for the International Executive MBA Class of the University of St.Gallen, the “2024 Switzerland-Changzhou Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Day”, “So Swiss in Changzhou” and the grand opening of Swiss Center Changzhou. We sincerely thank the Swiss Embassy, the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai, the Changzhou Municipal Government, and all of our partners and members for your trust and support in achieving these milestones.

Looking ahead, we are organizing a joint cluster booth at the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) and invite Swiss companies to participate. During November 3-9, 2024, we will lead a Swiss delegation to explore China’s medtech and healthcare industries, including attending the CIIE, the Medtech Innovation Forum, and visiting key industry representatives in Changzhou. Delegates will engage with industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers to explore collaboration opportunities.

Finally, Swiss Centers remain a key facilitator with practical support and providing solutions to help Swiss businesses to succeed in China. We warmly welcome our new member companies, Appenzeller Bier, FHH, and LightSeeds, and the renewing members Zaugg, Mikron Tool SA, and Pfiffner. We are excited to support their journey in the Chinese market!

Zhen XIAO

CEO

Swiss Centers

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While we approach the end of another remarkable year, filled with challenges and triumphs, moments of growth and resilience, and a tapestry of experiences that have shaped us as an organization. Looking back in the past year, Swiss Centers had the pleasure taking part in various events and meetings facilitating Sino-Swiss economic relations, with quite a number of high-level Chinese delegations coming to Switzerland, then in November we organized successfully a Fact-Finding Mission to China with 14 participants from Swiss institutions and companies. At the 6^th China International Import Expo (CIIE), the Swiss Centers Booth joining 27 brands under one roof has attracted the numerous Chinese visitors as well the media attention, including the most viewed news program on the Chinese Central Television.  We have also participated and contributed to the 2023 Academic Evaluation Report of the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement, which will celebrate its 10-year anniversary next year.

Reflecting on the past year, let us recognize the significance of building bridges and physical interactions between the two countries and its people. After 2023, a year of re-connecting and re-discovery, we look forward to seeing and supporting more exchanges and visits, which will lead to concrete and fruitful business development. We also look forward to having a new Customer Success Manager joining our dynamic team based in Shanghai.

Thanks to all the members and partners, for your continuous trust and support. On behalf of the Swiss Centers team, I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Zhen XIAO

CEO

Swiss Centers

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While we embrace the hot summertime, Swiss Centers warmly welcome 6 new member companies who joined our cluster in 2023, namely Contexa, Wonder Pet Concept, SwissOxx, Virtuarch, Bartholet Maschinenbau, and Swatch Group, as well as NGL Group who renewed its membership at Swiss Centers. Among them, some are veterans with decades of experience of doing business in China, while some others are just at the beginning to explore this attractive but highly competitive market.

This testifies the interest of Swiss businesses in China, as we reported earlier this year in the Swiss Business in China Survey 2023, the Swiss companies in China regained its confidence, reaching a historical high level at 7.2 out of 10.

At the same time, Swiss businesses face many challenges in China, with quite a number of new ones coming to the top, such as “geopolitical tensions”, “changing group strategy towards China” and “the lack of understanding and support from Head Office”.

This “gap of understanding” is becoming increasingly important, with nearly three years of restricted business travels and increasing trade and technology barriers. For the Swiss executives and entrepreneurs who need to handle their business in China, it is crucial to stay connected and understand as much as possible the realities of what is happening on the ground. For this purpose, we kindly invite you to join our Fact-Finding Mission to (re-)discover China in November 5-12, with a special focus on innovation. Hope to welcome you then (or earlier) in China!

In the meantime, wish you all a great summertime!

Zhen XIAO

CEO

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I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and high spirits, despite the challenges you may have been facing due to the lock-down in Shanghai. Since late March, many of you including our own team in Shanghai have been working from home, while struggling to get supplies of food and life essentials, not to mention taking care of the health of family members especially those with little ones and seniors at home.

The impact on business has also been tremendous, from manufacturing to service companies: logistics were slow if not completely stuck, operations and projects were on hold, even the cross-border payments were delayed. Read here articles with interviews of our GM Mr. Kuno Gschwend, and testimonials of Swiss companies.

Throughout these difficult times, a positive learning is to realize how valuable it can be to have an efficient self-organized community. We are all inspired and touched by those volunteers who stood up to help, from organizing group orders to getting life-saving medicine and urgent care, from arranging deliveries to organizing a virtual birthday party to cheer up a lonely neighbor. At Swiss Centers, we share this spirit and endeavor to support our members and partners in finding solutions, being it to get the goods through the customs, or speeding-up a long-delayed international payment. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you are encountering similar issues or having any other questions.

One this note, we warmly welcome the new member companies joining the Swiss Centers family in Spring 2022, namely Huss Park Attractions, TRB, Girod Instruments, and BN Nutrition, as well to Steinemann AG in renewing its membership. The growing cluster at Swiss centers is a confirmation of the interest in the Chinese market, and also a commitment and trust to our organization and our work. We thank all members and partners for the constant support and trust, and we continue to adapt our services to meet the demand and expectations.

Finally, with the number of cases reducing gradually, we hope to see very soon the end of the lock-down in Shanghai, and look forward to re-embracing the livelihood and dynamism of the great city! Among others, we will partner with Swiss Consul General to organize the “So-Swiss” Pop-up event, and organize the Swiss Booth at CIIE in November. Stay tuned! In the meantime, we wish you all remain “negative” in tests while keeping positive in spirit!

Zhen XIAO

CEO

Swiss Centers

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While these new activities are tailored to serve the consumer goods companies, the Swiss Centers continue to support the industrial and technology companies in doing business with China. With the pandemic continue threatening our health and restraining business trips, the Swiss Centers’ practical and customized solutions, ranging from employee hosting to local representation, from trade agency to supply chain management, are more than helpful and are appreciated by our existing and newly joined members.

Hereby we would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the trust and support of Ceramaret, Digisens, Dixi Polytool & Ventura Mecanics, Sonceboz and Fraisa for renewing their membership! We would also like to welcome our new member companies Pfiffner Witzig & Frank and Distillerie Louis Morand to join the Swiss Centers family!

Swiss Centers will continue to provide the practical quality services, to adapt to the changing environment, to meet the challenges and help the Swiss companies to develop their business with China. We thank sincerely all our customers and partners for the collaboration throughout the year, and we wish you and your family a happy festival season, and  a prosperous and healthy new year of 2022!

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The end of the year is no-doubt a good time to celebrate, but also a good moment to reflect. I hope you all had a satisfactory year and good expectations for the coming year! Please kindly share your opinions and outlook on the Swiss Business Survey we conducted jointly with Swiss Embassy, Swissnex, Switzerland Global Enterprises, Swisscham, China Integrated and CEIBS.

We warmly welcome our new member Air China to join the Swiss Centers family, and sincere gratitude to Acrostak and Claroswiss for renewing their membership!

We also thank all our members for the trust and support throughout the year, and wish all our readers a great journey into the new year of 2020.

View the newsletter here.

In return, we continue to bring more benefits and value-added services to our growing cluster. For example, our facility at Shanghai Waigaoqiao gathers some 20 companies, who are benefiting from the Free Trade Zone policies and our trade specialist’s support in handling the custom declaration, logistics, and application of Sino-Swiss FTA.

This year we also engage ourselves to organize a Swiss Centers Cluster Booth in the 2nd CIIE, in the Food and Quality Life area, to help increase the visibility and raise the awareness of the Swiss brands and products towards the Chinese consumers. More than a dozen of Swiss companies already confirmed their participation, and for those who are interested to join, please kindly contact us as soon as possible to catch the last remaining spots.

Last but not least, we would like to introduce you Mr. Kuno Gschwend, as our new Deputy General Manager in China. He takes over the position from Ms. Emmanuelle Roduit, who decides to return to Switzerland after years in China. We thank Emma for her great work and contribution and wish her all the best in the future. Kuno Gschwend, together with the Swiss Centers team, will continue to serve our members and support the Swiss businesses development in China!

View the newsletter here.