Swiss president meets with visiting Juncker to enhance cooperation

Swiss President Doris Leuthard on Thursday met with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in Bern of Switzerland, reiterating the importance and diversity of the relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU).

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the meeting that during the visit, Switzerland and the EU signed an agreement enabling them to link their CO2 emissions trading systems.

Also an agreement has been initialed to allow the Swiss criminal prosecution authorities to access data from the EURODAC database, which has an automated system for the recognition of digital fingerprints of asylum seekers in the Dublin Regulation members, the statement said.

According to the Swiss Foreign Ministry, the scientific and technical cooperation between the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the European Chemicals Agency and the updating of the agreement on insurance between the two sides have also about to be concluded.

In addition, the two sides have reached some agreements for negotiations on Switzerland's cooperation with the EU Agency for Railways and its participation in the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency.

During their meeting, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in the areas of internal security and migration. In particular, they referred to the need for concerted responses to common challenges facing the entire European continent.

Other topics the two delegations discussed included migration issues, security, foreign policy cooperation and Britain's departure from the EU, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said, which described the relations between Switzerland and the EU as "entering a new phase".

source: xinhua