Saudi Arabia and the Swiss Federal Council recently signed an agreement to avoid double taxation on income and capital and to prevent tax evasion. That agreement constitutes a robust legal framework defining fiscal relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Swiss Confederation, reducing the tax burden on investors and giving them an assurance of transparency in taxation. Saudi Ambassador to Switzerland Prince Mansour Bin Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz invited businessmen in Switzerland and Saudi Arabia to benefit from the fiscal advantages and reductions that the agreement offers for the implementation of more joint trade and investment projects. Addressing to the Saudi-Swiss Business Council here recently, he said the volume of trade between the Kingdom and Switzerland amounts to around US$ 5.7 billion and, in keeping with the Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom's government is resolutely determined to embark on a race against time in order to achieve results that will dazzle the whole world in all industrial, research, trade, medical and economic fields. He said private sector growth constitutes a linchpin of the Kingdom's policy and developmental process since its government has accorded great importance to encouragement of the private sector and will continue to pursue its policies designed to overcome all the challenges that it might face so that it can accede to the high status on which we have set our sights. — SG