Swiss president arrives in Mexico for official visit

President Claudia Sheinbaum will meet on Wednesday with Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who arrived in Mexico on Monday.

At her morning press conference on Tuesday, Sheinbaum noted that Parmelin, whose formal title is president of the Swiss Confederation, would come to the National Palace on Wednesday.

📸 Esta tarde, el secretario Roberto Velasco (@r_velascoa) dio la bienvenida a nuestro país, al presidente de la Confederación Suiza, Guy Parmelin (@ParmelinG) y a su esposa, Caroline Merotto. El mandatario suizo realiza una visita oficial a México para reunirse con la presidenta… pic.twitter.com/hXrHygd9AG

— Relaciones Exteriores (@SRE_mx) July 7, 2026

“We’re going to welcome him and later he’s coming [back] with a group of businesspeople who we are also going to welcome,” she said.

Switzerland is not part of the European Union (EU) and is therefore not a party to the new Mexico-EU trade agreement that was signed in Mexico City in May. However, it is a signatory to the trade agreement between Mexico and the European Free Trade Association, an intergovernmental organization made up of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Trade between Mexico and Switzerland was worth US $4.27 billion in 2025, according to the national statistics agency INEGI. Mexico’s imports from Switzerland were worth $2.44 billion, while its exports to the European republic were worth $1.83 billion. In 2024, Mexico’s largest export to Switzerland was gold, while its largest import from the country was medications.

Swiss companies — hundreds of which operate in Mexico — invested $540 million in Mexico in 2024.

According to a social media post by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) on Monday, the purpose of Parmelin’s visit is to deepen economic and trade ties between Mexico and Switzerland.

“This afternoon, the [Foreign] Minister Roberto Velasco welcomed the president of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin, and his wife, Caroline Merotto, to our country. The Swiss leader is carrying out an official visit to Mexico to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday to continue deepening the economic and trade ties between our nations,” the SRE wrote on X.

Parmelin — who began a one-year term on Jan. 1 after previously serving as Swiss president in 2021 — and his wife flew into the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, located north of Mexico City in México state.

The Swiss Embassy in Mexico also took to social media to acknowledge Parmelin’s arrival in Mexico for a state visit.

In a post to X, the embassy said that 80 years of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland, reached in 2025, is a “milestone that reflects decades of commitment to mutual prosperity.”

With reports from La Jornada and SDP Noticias