Switzerland can no longer be associated with black money, Swiss envoy says

COIMBATORE: The Switzerland government began gathering information on bank account holders from India starting in January this year and the list will be shared with the Indian government in 2019, said Switzerland’s ambassador to India and Bhutan, Andreas Baum, on Thursday.
Baum said as per the agreement signed by the Swiss government in November 2018, the government had started work on gathering information. “We have created a list which contains names of people who have money in banks in Switzerland. This is all very legal as they have declared their income,” he said.

“Switzerland can no longer be associated with black money,” he said.

“We are working on automatic exchange of information on tax matters as per the agreement signed, last year. The process of sharing of information will begin soon. The list will become available with all countries,” said Andreas.

This exchange would happen with all the countries in the world, he said. “India and Swiss governments have been working in various fields such as climate, environment, science, technology, trade and tourism. In the last 18 months, three meetings at the highest level have taken place indicating an intensification in the 70 years of diplomatic relationship. We are negotiating to achieve free trade agreement which will be finalised soon and a new frame work to protect investments in India,” he said.

The ambassador said there had been a lot of development in the relationship between the two countries as they were working together in various areas. “Several MoUs have been signed, systematic dialogues in many areas of environment, science, financial issue, trade issue has already taken shape,” he said.

He said the Swiss consulate general in Bengaluru was working closely with startups on innovation and scientific cooperation. In Mumbai, the focus was on trade and small and medium scale enterprises. In New Delhi, the embassy was working closely on trade and financial agreements, he added.

Baum was in Coimbatore to inaugurate a slew of projects under CAPAcities that focusses on capacity building for low carbon and climate resilient city development in India funded by the Swiss agency for development and cooperation.