GENEVA, March 27 -- The upper house of Swiss parliament approved a free trade agreement (FTA) with China Thursday at its regular spring session concluded in March.

Lawmakers of the Council of States voted 25 in favor, three against and 11 abstentions to ratify the deal, local media reported.

The agreement was approved by the lower house, or the Swiss National Council, by a vote of 120 to 46 in December.

The FTA, signed in Beijing on July 6, 2013 after nine rounds of negotiations over more than two years, is the first free trade pact inked between China and a country in continental Europe.

China is Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia, while Switzerland is China's eighth-largest trading partner in Europe, according to official Chinese data.

Bilateral trade reached 21.81 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.