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Switzerland president pays visit to Romania

The Swiss Confederation President Micheline Calmy-Rey is paying an official visit to Romania on Thursday and Friday on an invitation from President Traian Basescu, the Presidential Administration announced in a release on Wednesday.

Romanian President Traian Basescu on Thursday expressed gratitude to President of Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey for the confidence of the Swiss investors and he also tackled the topic of the recognition of the Romanian diplomas in Switzerland.

'I can tell you that I noticed the excellent bilateral relation connecting Romania and Switzerland. I thanked Ms. Calmy-Rey for the confidence of the Swiss investors and for the level of the Swiss investments in Romania. In addition, we discussed about the process of recognizing the Romanian diplomas in Switzerland. Romania wants this process to unfold over 24 months, to be sealed an agreement between Switzerland and the European Union, with Romania to benefit from it too,' President Basescu said at the end of the official meeting with his Swiss counterpart.

Traian Basescu also approached topics regarding the Western Balkans and the Caspian region and the Republic of Moldova as well.

'We represent the Georgian interests in Russia and the Russian interests in Georgia and we play an important role in fulfilling Russia's desire to accede to the World Trade Organisation. That is why our talks focused on the Southern Caucasus region too. I hope we continue the existing good ties and to further reinforce them,' Micheline Calmy-Rey said.

She stressed the good cooperation between the two states by emphasizing the existence of a number of agreements that improve conditions for economic exchanges, giving as an example the agreement for the investments' protection, the agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the agreement over cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

'We tackled the issues regarding the European policies. You know that Switzerland is not a member of the EU. We chose a different path, the path of the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU, but this does not mean that Switzerland does not have European policies. We are present here, in Romania, with a contribution worth 181 million Swiss francs, seeking to reduce economic and social disparities between the new and old EU member states. We signed an agreement on the free movement of persons and this makes our relation with the EU to be special and to bear a special nature with Romania too,' President of Swiss Confederation underscored.

Basescu: Romania has access to bank information under Swiss laws starting 2012

President Traian Basescu said at the end of official talks with visiting Swiss Confederation President Micheline Calmy-Rey on Thursday that following a protocol signed with the Swiss Government in this February, should the Romanian authorities suspect that someone avoided paying taxes and deposited their money in a Swiss bank, they would get an answer from the Swiss authorities.

'Romania, in February, signed a protocol with the Swiss Government by which it has, starting Jan. 1, 2012, access to banking information as it is made available under the Swiss laws, as part of the information swap between our two states. In other words, should the Romanian authorities suspect that someone avoided paying taxes and deposited their money in a Swiss bank, they would get an answer from the Swiss authorities', said Basescu when asked about a possible tax transparency agreement between Romania and Switzerland.

Calmy-Rey stressed there is inside the European Union an accord on taxation, which 'links' her country to the EU by the possibility of charging taxes on the Swiss-based capitals.

'It is a complicated matter. On the one hand, there is a taxation accord with the EU and there are the bilateral relations between Romania and Switzerland on the other', she told a joint press briefing with the Romanian president.

Sursa: http://www.actmedia.eu

Tags: swiss romania agreement between romanian calmy president switzerland basescu

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