BASEL: Both parties discussed mutual relations in fields of exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, and agreed on the need to form a specialised team for the exchange of experiences between the two countries in the finance field.
The Ministry of Finance is currently establishing the administrative and technological infrastructure required to implement an automated system to collect and exchange information, as per the requirements and standards for the exchange of information for tax purposes and data protection, in order to begin collecting data by 2017 and activate the exchange of information for tax purposes in 2018. The UAE and Switzerland signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation on income in 2011 and one of the protection and promotion of investment in 1998.
The two parties reviewed their mutual economic and trade relations, whereby Switzerland was the first country that agreed to participate in the Expo 2020 to be held in Dubai, investing AED 57 million in the Swiss Pavilion, which will be built on the Expo site, to present Swiss research capacity and innovation in the fields of renewable energies, mobility and the environment.
The Swiss Business Council (SBC), a non- profit organisation licensed by the UAE Chambers of Commerce & Industry, was established in the UAE in 1996. The Swiss Business Council was formed to promote the interests and activities of companies and individuals with commercial interests between the UAE and Switzerland and to promote social and cultural relations between the two countries. SBC has membership base of over 250 members including major Swiss multinationals.
Switzerland is one the UAE’s main strategic trade partner in Europe with Swiss-UAE bilateral trade in 2015 amounting to AED 33.6 billion in 2015. The UAE remains the top export market within the GCC for Switzerland, which imports products worth more than AED 18 billion annually, including jewelry, precious metals, machinery, pharmaceuticals, aircraft, vehicles, cosmetics, beauty products as well as optical and medical equipment.
