It is said that Switzerland is the "most European of European nations". This moniker undoubtedly stems from it being a multilingual, multicultural confederation of French, German and Italian heritages. Switzerland is not member of the Europen Union. However, by means of Bilateral Agreements, it maintains a strong position within Europe and remains a competitive player in that market. Switzerlnad is the third largest goods supplier to and second largest customer of the EU.

More than 850,000 EU nationals are already working in Switzerland and in June 2007, doing business with the EU will be even more attractive when the market for labor will be totally open for citizens from the European Union. With this system, Switzerland is fully integrated into the EU market of more than 400 million consumers while retaining its full political independance.

U.S. exporters can benefit from Switzerland's unique position as a gateway to the rest of Europe. Many U.S. firms have identified Swiss partners to cover not only the Swiss market, but also EMEA markets (European, Middle Eastern, African).

Switzerland is a member of the EFTA, meaning that goods move between the country and the EU free of quotas and without customs barriers for access to a market of more than 380 million.

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