Switzerland

Political relations and latest visits

At the level of Heads of State: Mr Ignazio Cassis met with the President of the French Republic, Mr Emmanuel Macron, on the margins of the Paris Peace Forum on 11 November 2022. In 2018, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Mr Alain Berset, attended ceremonies on 10 and 11 November in Paris. President Macron travelled to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2018. Prior to that, the President of the Confederation for 2017, Ms Doris Leuthard, was received in Paris by both President Macron and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on 18 July 2017. President François Hollande’s state visit on 15 and 16 April 2015 was the third such visit since 1910, after those of President Jacques Chirac in 1998 and President François Mitterrand in 1983. A state visit took place on 15 and 16 November 2023 at President Berset’s invitation.
In 2020, Switzerland was one of the guest countries of honour at the ceremonies on 14 July 2020 for its solidarity with France welcoming 52 French patients in its hospitals during the COVID-19 health crisis (Mr Alain Berset, Federal Councillor responsible for Health, visited France at the invitation of President Macron).

At Foreign Minister level: Mr Ignazio Cassis visited Paris on 17 June 2021 where he met with Minister Le Drian. Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian made an official visit to Bern on 16 November 2020, where he met with his counterpart Mr Cassis and the President of the Confederation for 2020, Ms Simonetta Sommaruga. Foreign Ministers Le Drian and Cassis met in Paris in March 2020. Prior to that, the Minister and his Swiss counterpart Mr Cassis met in Bern on 24 August 2018. They also met in Paris on 19 December 2017.

At the level of Ministers of State and Minister Delegates: Mr Olivier Becht, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, attended the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023 then visited Geneva on 22 and 23 June 2023 to commend the quality of French-Swiss cooperation. The Ministers Veran, Firmin le Bodo, Retailleau and Braun also visited Switzerland in winter 2023. On 30 November 2022, Ms Sarah El Haïry, Minister of State for Youth, visited Geneva and Zurich to learn more about the Swiss civic service model. On 8 November 2022, the Minister of State for Europe, Ms Laurence Boone, received her counterpart, Ms Livia Leu, in Paris. On 11 March 2022, the Minister of State Sophie Cluzel visited Switzerland regarding health cooperation. On 29 January 2022, Mr Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State attached to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, visited Cluse-et-Mijoux and Switzerland for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the crossing of the Army of the East, commanded by General Bourbaki. On 1 July 2021, he visited Geneva to discuss tourism. On 1 April 2021, Franck Riester, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, visited Geneva. Minister of State Lemoyne visited Switzerland on 26 June 2020, at the invitation of Mr Ignazio Cassis, Federal Councillor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

At Defence Minister level: Ms Florence Parly travelled to Bern on 22 March 2021 and met with her counterpart Ms Viola Amherd. The two Ministers had previously met in Paris on 18 October 2019. Ms Parly met her counterpart Mr Guy Parmelin in Bern on 3 September 2018 and again in Paris on 23 November 2018, where they signed an intergovernmental agreement. The French Minister and her Swiss counterpart had previously met in Paris on 30 October 2017 and Munich on 16 February 2018.

At Economy Minister level: On 1 July 2021, Minister of State Le Maire travelled to Geneva and on 31 March 2021 to Bern, where he met Mr Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation, and Mr Ueli Maurer, Finance Minister.
Further information on bilateral visits on the French embassy website:

Economic and trade relations

French-Swiss trade continues to follow a steady trajectory of strong growth: from 2010 to 2022, trade in goods between France and Switzerland increased by 74% reaching a high of €39 billion in 2022 (total value of exports and imports). After a drop in French-Swiss trade on account of the health crisis in 2020, French exports to Switzerland jumped by 18% in 2021, standing at €17 billion and surpassing their average pre-crisis amount. Meanwhile, French imports from Switzerland (€14.7 billion in 2021) have been much less buoyant the past five years. In 2021, France’s trade surplus in goods with Switzerland stood at €2.3 billion, its second highest over the 2010-2021 period. From 2020 to 2021, this surplus grew by 44%. It is France’s second largest trade surplus in Europe behind that with the United Kingdom (€6.8 billion).

Since 2013, France’s market shares in Switzerland (goods only) remain stable between 6 and 7%. They stood at 6% in 2021. The situation is even more positive for France when it comes to the trade in services. With €13.4 billion in French exports of services to Switzerland in 2020 and €7.8 billion in imports, Switzerland represents our number one bilateral trade surplus in services (€5.6 billion).
Click here for Switzerland’s economic statistics (in French) : key figures on bilateral trade and support for French businesses

French-Swiss trade continues to follow a steady trajectory of strong growth: from 2010 to 2022, trade in goods between France and Switzerland increased by 74% reaching a high of €39 billion in 2022 (total value of exports and imports). After a drop in French-Swiss trade on account of the health crisis in 2020, French exports to Switzerland jumped by 18% in 2021, standing at €17 billion and surpassing their average pre-crisis amount. Meanwhile, French imports from Switzerland (€14.7 billion in 2021) have been much less buoyant the past five years. In 2021, France’s trade surplus in goods with Switzerland stood at €2.3 billion, its second highest over the 2010-2021 period. From 2020 to 2021, this surplus grew by 44%. It is France’s second largest trade surplus in Europe behind that with the United Kingdom (€6.8 billion).

Since 2013, France’s market shares in Switzerland (goods only) remain stable between 6 and 7%. They stood at 6% in 2021. The situation is even more positive for France when it comes to the trade in services. With €13.4 billion in French exports of services to Switzerland in 2020 and €7.8 billion in imports, Switzerland represents our number one bilateral trade surplus in services (€5.6 billion).