First ministerial meeting of the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership: Switzerland promotes open markets

In the thematic workstream on supply chain resilience, the ministers adopted a non-legally binding declaration on Supply Chain Resilience: Best Practices in Response to Major Supply Chain Risks and Disruptions. The declaration aims to improve international coordination in addressing major risks and disruptions to global supply chains. It outlines a series of best practices to prevent countries from resorting to trade-restrictive measures amidst a crisis. Switzerland played a key role in drafting the declaration.

Paraguay and Malaysia were welcomed as new members at the ministerial meeting. The FIT Partnership now comprises 16 states: Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Rwanda, Switzerland, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay. Other interested countries participated as observers. The Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also attended the meeting virtually.

The FIT Partnership was launched on 16 September 2025. It brings together small and medium-sized economies that are closely integrated into global value chains and that face similar challenges in the context of growing protectionism and tensions in world trade. The participating states aim to make their concerns heard, strengthen the rules-based trading system, and collaborate on initiatives to address challenges in global trade. Switzerland launched the FIT Partnership together with New Zealand, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and continues to play an active role in its development.