Dubai, 24 March, 2022: During his official visit to the UAE, Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer inaugurated yesterday the Swiss Finance Day in the Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai in the presence of a high-ranking delegation of Swiss banks and insurance companies.

HE Maurer’s visit to the UAE focused on various talks on cooperation in financial and tax matters and enabled the financial dialogue between the two countries to exchange views on the economic situation as well as financial and tax issues and open market access. The financial dialogue was led by State Secretary Daniela Stoffel and HE Mohamed Bin Hadi Al Hussaini, the Minister of State for Finance, 

The Swiss Finance Day is an opportunity for Switzerland to further foster its position as one of the world's leading financial centres. The panels brought together high level speakers from the Swiss Financial Center to discuss and reflect on the Swiss financial centre's contribution to innovation and sustainability. The first panel was entitled “Financing the transition to a carbon-neutral economy” and the second panel “The Swiss Financial Center’s leading contribution to innovation and sustainability”.

Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer, said: “Switzerland has done a lot in recent years to make its financial centre more competitive, in line with international standards. A world exhibition like Expo 2020 Dubai is a good opportunity to present Switzerland as one of the world's leading and innovative financial centres.”

In this regard, digitalisation requires an innovation-friendly framework, and financial market regulations should not create unnecessary barriers to entry for new technologies. Switzerland has already made significant progress on removing unjustified barriers to market entry, allowing its strong fintech and blockchain ecosystem to thrive. This is why digitalisation opens up promising opportunities for the Swiss financial centre to strengthen and expand its leading international position. 

The UAE is Switzerland's most important trading partner in the Middle East. The annual trading volume is just under 20 billion Swiss francs. Bilateral relations between Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates were established in 1971. Cooperation has since intensified and diversified significantly. Switzerland is working to improve market access for Swiss companies, also in the field of finance.