On April 29, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhii Marchenko met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Confederation to Ukraine Claude Wild.

The parties discussed the terms of signing a Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between the State Customs Service of Ukraine, the Swiss Federal Council and the World Customs Organization on the Global Trade Facilitation Program (GTFP) and concluding a Governmental Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Affairs.

The Minister and the Ambassador expressed their intention to sign an Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance in the Prevention, Investigation and Cessation of Customs Offenses, which should have a positive impact on the quality of services and security of customs in Ukraine.

"We are interested in mutually beneficial cooperation and are confident that the signing of the Agreement will contribute to the creation of legal instruments for effective cooperation between the State Customs Service of Ukraine and the Swiss Federal Customs Administration," said Serhii Marchenko.

Besides, the Minister of Finance said that the Ukrainian side is ready to sign a Tripartite Memorandum aimed at promoting international trade in the implementation of international standards and best practices for the import, export and transit of commercial goods.

The Ambassador of Switzerland invited the Minister of Finance of Ukraine to attend a meeting of the Ukrainian-Swiss Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation to be held in June 2021.

"You can count on us as a partner. We believe that your safety and well-being is also our safety. Ukraine is Europe, and we understand that from Bern it is closer to Kyiv than, for example, Helsinki or Dublin. We are glad to be your partners in many projects and look forward to further mutually beneficial and effective cooperation," said Claude Wild.

In addition, the participants of the meeting agreed to work on the possibility of entering Swiss banks to the Ukrainian market, as thecy are considered one of the most reliable and important financial institutions in the world.

"Today we see an interesting trend among Swiss banks - their IT departments are located in Ukraine. For example, the head office of one of the largest European banks UBS is located in Zurich, and its IT department is in Ukraine thanks to your highly qualified engineers. This is a good practice, but we have to work to start providing banking services in Ukraine," said Claude Wild.

Apart from that the parties agreed to cooperate in preparation for the Ukraine Reform Conference 2022 to be held in Switzerland, outlined key potential issues for inclusion in the agenda of the forthcoming conference, including post-war economic development, banking sector reform and privatization.