According to a Swiss minister, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is eyeing significant reduction in trade barriers on various sectors including pharma, machine tools and advanced chemicals in the proposed free trade agreement with India.

Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs Helene Budliger Artieda said that the EFTA grouping is aiming for an ambitious and comprehensive agreement with India in trade in goods, services and protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

India and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland - are negotiating a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) aiming at strengthening economic ties between the two regions.

In January 2008, negotiations on the agreement were officially launched. Around thirteen rounds of negotiations were held until autumn 2013 before the talks were put on hold. A number of rounds took place after talks were resumed in October 2016.

EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner countries including Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Korea.