Obaid bin Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, has met with Jorg Gasser, Swiss State Secretary for International Financial Matters, to discuss ways to boost mutual cooperation and trade relations.

During the meeting, 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 on the protection and promotion of investment in 1998.

The two parties reviewed their mutual economic and trade relations, as Switzerland was the first country to agree to participate in Expo 2020 Dubai, investing AED57 million in its pavilion 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, a non-profit organisation licensed by the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, was established in the UAE in 1996 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.