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Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao meets with Swiss officials Tuesday in Bern, en route to Davos for the World Economic Forum, a visit he announced in December. TSR (Fre) reports that in addition to the usual top security measures taken for any visiting government leader, people in the area around the federal palace are being told they cannot open their windows and no media crews will be allowed on balconies.

Visitors to Bern should note that no motorized vehicles are allowed to operate in the area between 13:00 and 21:00.

The government’s additional security measures are presumably linked to its experience in 1998 when then-President Jiang Zeming visited Bern and protestors who climbed on rooftops booed the Chinese leader, says RSR (Fre).

The Swiss foreign affairs office says in its official announcement about the visit that “discussions are expected to include bilateral relations, especially the current economic situation linked to the financial crisis, as well as political dialogue and cooperation between China and Switzerland in the fields of science and technology.” TSR adds to this that human rights will be on the agenda and Xinhua news reports that Switzerland would like to sign a free trade agreement with China.

China has been Switzerland’s largest trading partner in Asia since 2002 and Switzerland is the only Western country to have a positive balance of trade with China, according to offiial Swiss figures.

From the Swiss federal government:

• key data on China
• Switzerland-China, bilateral relations

From the Chinese government site: official biography, Wen Jiabao and press release on his European tour, which will also take him to Germany, Spain, Britain and European Union headquarters in Brussels.