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Towel thrown
Top Swiss negotiator resigns
Michael Ambühl, Switzerland’s top diplomat in ongoing tax and banking negotiations with both the United States and countries in Europe, will step down at the end of August, it has been announced. [...]
Swiss politics
The big bad foreigner in poster art
Illegal money
Cabinet drafts unique law on dictators’ assets
Swiss accord
Chinese leader holds out promise of more deals
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang says a free trade accord with Switzerland should serve as an example for closer relations with other European countries. He believes a deal with the Swiss finance industry will also boost the economy in Switzerland. [...]
Free trade accord
Chinese prime minister praises deal with Swiss
Swiss banking woes
Minister says end to US tax dispute in sight
Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says a resolution may be not far off to end a long-running dispute with the United States over Swiss banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars of taxes. [...]
Changes at the top
Surprise shake-up marks Glencore Xstrata meeting
Formula for success
Chinese parents drive baby milk powder boom
Quest for identity
Artist creates his own Japan in Switzerland
My name is David "Takashi" Favrod. I was born on July 2, 1982, in Kobe, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a Swiss father. When I was six months old, my parents decided to come and live in Vionnaz, a small village in the lower Valais. [...]
Basel’s Schola Cantorum
Old music becomes new art
Medical advances
Gender testing to help avoid genetic diseases
A new test called Microsort will allow couples with certain serious hereditary disorders to choose the sex of their baby in order to reduce the chance of passing on an active form of their disease. [...]
Aerial mapping
Successful takeoff for Swiss commercial drones
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In depth
Pilatus planes
Swiss trainer aircraft sold to Qatar air force
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The PC-21 aircraft to Qatar come with a long-term support contract (Keystone)
The Pilatus aircraft manufacturer says it has landed another major deal, selling a fleet of 24 PC-21 trainer planes to Qatar, as well as a package of ground-based training tools, logistical support and maintenance.
The company says the deal is worth more than SFr600 million ($607 million) and will provide the newly established Qatar air force academy with the training systems from the middle of 2014.
“With the Qatar Emiri Air Force, Pilatus has added yet another new customer to the fold and we are delighted to welcome them to the growing ranks of world class Air Forces operating our platforms,” a statement by Pilatus said on Monday.
It is the third big sale announced by the Swiss manufacturer this year. In May, it sold 55 PC-21 planes to Saudi Arabia and 75 PC-7 to India.
The pacifist Switzerland without an Army group has protested against the latest deal, accusing Qatar of human rights violations and the suppression of opposition groups.
It warned that training aircraft can easily be used against the civilian population. “They are used to train fighter jet and bomber pilots,” a statement said.
The pacifists say it is scandalous that the sale of training aircraft is not subject to restrictions by the law.
For its part, Pilatus Aircraft says the agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India have filled the order books for the next few years. The company said it plans to create about 400 new jobs in Switzerland.
Dual use
The federal authorities are examining the deal after Pilatus last week re-filed for an extended export licence to Qatar, a spokeswoman for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs told the Swiss News Agency.
Trainer aircraft are not covered by the law on war materiel exports.
Pilatus is no stranger to controversy. Some of its products have historically been categorised as dual-use, which means that they can serve in both civilian and military capacities.
Pacifist campaigners argue that Pilatus trainer planes are also used in conflicts against armed rebellions as they are more solid than normal training planes and “practically designed to be armed”.
Since the 1970s, modified Pilatus aircraft are said to have been armed and used in Myanmar, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Nigeria, Iraq and Chad.
The sale of PC-21 aircraft systems, notably logistics components, to the United Arab Emirates was briefly suspended earlier this week amid allegations that Swiss-built hand grenades were re-exported from the Gulf state to Syria.
An investigation into the reported shipment is underway.
Cleared for landing
Pilatus seals plane deals with India and Saudis
The Pilatus aircraft manufacturer has confirmed a deal to export 75 PC-7 military training aircraft to India worth $523 million (SFr500 million) - a major contract for the turboprop trainer in the Stans-based firm’s history. [...]
Grenades in Syria
Swiss lift arms export ban to Arab Emirates
The economics ministry says a temporary ban on war materiel exports to the United Arab Emirates has been lifted. The announcement comes as a joint commission investigates the alleged discovery of Swiss-made hand grenades in Syria. [...]
War materiel exports return to the spotlight
Swiss law governing the exportation of war materiel has been criticised by legal experts as lacking transparency as regards the end-use of exports. [...]
