Experts call for deeper Sino-Swiss cooperation in sustainable development

While this year's pandemic has cast over the world a shadow of uncertainty, it also prompts business observers to reflect on how to achieve more sustainable development.

"COVID-19 is a severe wake-up call for mankind. We realized that it is so important to respect nature. Globalization will take a new turn now," said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank based in Beijing.

"It is time to turn to sustainable concrete practices if we want to reach targets, such as the 2060 Chinese carbon neutrality goal," he said during a panel discussing at the forum.

Echoing Wang's comments, Rashid Qureshi, chairman and CEO of Nestlé GCR, noticed that the pandemic changes consumer behaviors as they are now "more aware of the necessity to protect the environment", which direct companies into more sustainable business models.

He said sustainability cannot be finished by one country but through partnership; that's why better cooperation between Switzerland and China counts.

The Sino-Swiss Economic Forum started in 2010 and is a biennial event that is the biggest economic forum between Switzerland and China. Friday's event, attended by more than 300 business and government leaders, marked the closing ceremony for this year's forum, which saw a series of seminars in October.

Switzerland and China signed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement in 2013, the first FTA China had with a continental European country.