H.e. Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Virtually Meets With Singapore’s Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance

As part of the Ministry of Finance's endeavor to deepen constructive cooperation ties with various countries of the world, H.E. Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, virtually met Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance, yesterday. The meeting discussed ways to strengthen strategic relations and partnerships between the two friendly countries, a number of issues related to the G20, and both countries' experiences in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virtual meeting tackled a number of issues of common interest, including addressing the tax challenges of the digital economy within the OECD’s G20 project regarding axes 1 and 2 of the international tax policies, and preventing tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). The meeting also discussed the challenges arising from adopting digital currencies, and exchanged the  experiences of both countries in their participation in the G20 Financial Track as guest countries from outside the G20. Both ministers noted the importance of continuing such bilateral meetings under the current circumstances to benefit from various expertise to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

H.E. Al Tayer praised the strong bilateral relations between the UAE and Singapore, and he stressed the need to continue dialogue to consolidate constructive cooperation frameworks and open new horizons for joint action in various economic, financial and trade fields.

H.E. Al Tayer said, “The UAE has deep economic and trade relations with Singapore, supported by a set of agreements that define the legal framework for bilateral relations. These agreements include the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, bilateral investment agreements, and the GCC - Singapore Free Trade Agreement. Additionally, non-oil trade between the UAE and Singapore grew by 28.2% during 2019, reaching $ 5 billion.”