(Yicai Global) Dec. 23 -- China and Switzerland will start accepting each other's auditing standards next year to promote capital market connectivity.

The two countries reached an agreement to mutually recognize each other's auditing rules and cooperate on supervision from Jan. 1, 2023, China's finance ministry said in a statement posted online today.

The ministry and the Swiss Federal Audit Office began assessing the standards in April, completing rounds of questions and answers.

The cooperation should help reduce audit costs and increase efficiency so accounting firms can provide services to local companies for cross-border financing, enhancing economic and trade cooperation, a ministry official said to Chinese media today.

The move should be welcomed by Chinese companies as almost 20 domestic firms are preparing to issue global depository receipts in Switzerland, following in the footsteps of Ningbo-based new energy material developer Shanshan, battery recycler GEM, and six other mainland-listed enterprises. 

In February, the Asian country's main securities watchdog extended the bourse connect scheme to include Switzerland and Germany after the United Kingdom. Consequently, the Six Swiss Exchange has become a major option for domestic firms to issue GDRs abroad. 

China has been the European country's third-biggest trade partner for seven years in a row. In the first half, trade between the two rose by 34 percent to USD23.8 billion and the tally may reach USD50 billion this year, according to official data.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi