Free trade agreement between UAE and Switzerland this year
Gulf News | 19 Feb 2015
Free trade agreement between UAE and Switzerland this year
Abu Dhabi: Free Trade Agreement between Switzerland and the UAE will be implemented from July this year, a visiting dignitary from Switzerland said on Thursday.
Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen Fleisch, the State Secretary for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, said the agreement has been signed and will be implemented from July 1, 2015.
“It is an important agreement between the two counties and will give a boost to trade relations. It is an agreement in the interest of both the countries,” Fleisch told reporters at the opening ceremony of Switzerland Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
She said the free trade accord will allow the governments to grant duty free access to goods.
“The agreement covers the service industry, which is 70 per cent of Switzerland GDP [gross domestic product]. It is important for us. We import a lot of services and also would like to export our services like logistical services, distribution services, business services, energy services and others.
“We have seen all that investment grows much faster with those countries that you have these agreements. It creates good framework for business environment so that companies can invest.”
Due to economic climate in Europe, Switzerland is seeking to develop business relations with Gulf countries and also countries in South Asia. Economy has been slowing in many countries in Europe since last year.
“For us and for the whole EU it’s a difficult situation because some of the countries are not growing while some are growing a little bit. For us it is important to diversify because 60 per cent of our trade is with EU. We don’t want to be so dependent on EU,” Fleisch said. “We would like to ensure that if something happens, we have other places to increase our trade. This region is important as it is growing faster than other places.”
She added that she is not alarmed by the recent scandal involving HSBC bank in Switzerland. “Banking sector is doing well. There are few scandals but they are important for Swiss economy. They are competitive and innovative.”
HSBC Switzerland became the centre of a global scandal following the publication of secret documents claiming it assisted many of its rich clients in thwarting the taxman.
The bank was raided by Swiss authorities on Wednesday as part of a money-laundering probe, according to media reports.
On Greece, Fleisch said it will not pull out of the European Union. “They will get into huge trouble. They will have to introduce a new currency. They still face a lot of challenges and I think they did a very good job in the last year and now they are looking at how much more can we do and must we do.”
There are more than 300 Swiss companies operating in the UAE, according to Swiss embassy. Many companies from the UAE are trying to invest in Switzerland in tourism, finance and retail sectors. The latest investment into Switzerland from the UAE has been a project to develop a shopping mall by Abu Dhabi at a cost of $450 million.
“UAE is one of the most important partners in the region. We have seen 8 per cent growth in trade in 2013 and last year about 5 per cent trade between the two countries,” said Andrea Reichlin, Switzerland ambassador to the UAE.
By Fareed Rahman Senior Business Reporter
