Backgrounder: Basic facts about Switzerland

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang left Beijing on Monday morning for a four-day official visit to Switzerland, during which he will also attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The following are some basic facts about Switzerland:

Located in central Europe, the landlocked Switzerland has common borders with Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, France and Germany.

With a total area of about 41,284 square km, Switzerland has a population of about 7.7 million people. Bern is the capital of the country.

Switzerland, a highly industrialized country, implements liberal economic policies to reduce the intervention from the government. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the country reached 532.1 billion Swiss francs (about 510.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008, with per capita GDP standing at 68,308 Swiss francs (about 65,680 dollars).

The main industries of Switzerland, such as machinery manufacturing, chemicals and medicine, are highly competitive in the world. It also has advanced industrial sectors in food, textile and luxury clocks.

Switzerland, which is also famous for its tourism, has many cities such as Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne that attract travelers worldwide.

China and Switzerland established diplomatic relations on Sept. 14, 1950. Their bilateral ties have since then developed very smoothly with frequent high-level visits.

Switzerland is one of China's major trade partners in Europe, with the two-way trade volume hit 11.25 billion dollars in 2008, up 19.1 percent from the previous year.