India, Oct. 7 -- A year after the trade deal between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) came into force, India and Switzerland have begun putting into place the building blocks to deepen their bilateral ties. Ranging from trade and mobility to security, both countries are bullish on collaborative initiatives in a host of sectors. Swiss President Guy Parmelin is among leaders of EFTA States - Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein are the other members - currently visiting India for the Prosperity Summit. Leveraging the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) to broaden economic engagement between the two sides, the summit also seeks to address possible constraints to the implementation of the trade deal. On the bilateral level, India and Switzerland signed two agreements that will facilitate the movement of Indian students and professionals and several other pacts to bolster research and technology collaboration. There was also talk of convergence on how to govern AI. India stands to benefit from the technologies on offer from two EFTA States, Switzerland and Norway. This can help drive the plans for the bloc to invest $100 billion and create a million jobs in India over 15 years. At the same time, it will be crucial for India to address Switzerland's call for an investment protection agreement and result-oriented discussions on protection of intellectual property - both issues raised by Parmelin at his meeting with PM Narendra Modi. The outreach to the Swiss underlines the government's willingness to diversify its pool of allies. Bolstering trade and economic arrangements with countries and groupings amid the turmoil triggered by the US's tariff and trade policies of the will be to India's benefit. Against the backdrop of growing efforts by the middle powers to protect global governance institutions and strengthen multilateralism, the India-Switzerland partnership comes with a clear message: Instability can only be mitigated by creating alternative grounds of cooperation....