Swiss Minister of Economy: We aim to build bridges with Saudi Arabia

​              Switzerland Minister of Economy, Training and Research, Johann Schneiderman, said his visit to Saudi Arabia and his  discussion with Saudi officials were aimed at building bridges with Saudi Arabia, stressing that the Saudi reform program through Vision 2030 was present at the talks.
    "There are mutual interests," he said in a statement after a two day visit to the kingdom, an example of which is the "fight against terrorism", an important issue that dominates the global level.
    He added that he discussed with Saudi officials, among other things, the implementation of the free trade agreement between the Gulf countries and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes four European countries that are not members of the European Union (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein).
    He said that he also discussed the issue of the future agreement to avoid double taxation between Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, pointing out that this issue will be monitored within the framework of the joint economic committee between Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, the Swiss Ministry of Economy has acknowledged that the implementation of the Convention continues to face difficulties.
    During his visit to Saudi Arabia with representatives of the Swiss economy, Schneider-Aman met with three members of the Saudi government: Finance Minister Mohammed Abdullah Al Jaadan, Minister of Trade and Investment Majed Al Qasabi and Minister of Economy and Planning Adel Muhammed Faqih, according to information obtained by the Economist from the Swiss Ministry of Economy, Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, is Switzerland's second largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa, behind the UAE. The delegation visited King Abdullah Economic City, one of the most ambitious real estate projects in the world, according to the vision of the Swiss delegation. Last year, trade between Switzerland and Saudi Arabia stood at 3.2 billion francs (3.36 billion dollars), Swiss exports were 2.8 billion francs (2.94 billion dollars) and imports 440 million francs (463 billion dollars).