News

France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair the high-level international conference to promote a lasting peace in the Middle East and the implementation of the two-state solution. The conference will be held from 28 to 30 July 2025 in New York, under the auspices of the United Nations. Switzerland will be taking part alongside numerous international partners.

Empa researchers have developed innovative sound absorbers made of mineral foams. Not only are they significantly thinner than conventional materials, they can also be designed specifically for different frequencies. They have now been tested for the first time in a driveway in the city of Zurich to dampen street noise.

As part of the minimum taxation of multinational groups of companies, the FTA explains the crediting of residual tax as the applicable tax for Swiss top-up tax. It clarifies that the residual tax on distributions of a Swiss business unit is to be taken into account by the distributing Swiss business unit as the relevant tax for the calculation of the Swiss top-up tax.

COMCO settles with Visa on an average interchange fee rate of 0.15% for card-present domestic debit card payments. For the first time, COMCO also reduces cross-border interchange fees for debit and credit card payments from the EEA.

Switzerland is procuring five IRIS-T SLM systems for ground-based air defence. These will protect the population from medium-range threats from the air. The procurement is part of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI). The contract for Switzerland has now been signed between the Federal Office of Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support of the German Armed Forces and the manufacturer Diehl Defence GmbH & Co. KG, after the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse gave authorisation to do so.

National Armaments Director Urs Loher travelled to Vienna from 17 to 18 July 2025 to take part in the D-A-CH meetings with the Armaments Directors from Germany and Austria. The main topics of the exchange were ongoing armament procurements and trilateral cooperation.

This year's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is taking place from 14 to 23 July 2025 at the UN headquarters in New York. The Swiss delegation is being led by Markus Reubi, the Federal Council Delegate for the 2030 Agenda at the FDFA and will focus on economic growth and decent work.

On 16 and 17 July, Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, attended the informal meeting of EU research ministers in Copenhagen (Denmark). The policy discussions focused on promoting key technologies in Europe and the design of the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation from 2028. State Secretary Hirayama also took the opportunity to hold bilateral talks with counterparts from various countries.

The United States Department of Defense has informed the DDPS that it will reprioritize the delivery of Patriot systems to support Ukraine, focusing on ground-based air defense. This also affects Switzerland, which will receive its production batches later than planned. The Federal Council has been notified.

Markus Mäder, State Secretary for Security Policy, will hold talks on current security policy developments and bilateral cooperation with his counterparts in Chisinau (Moldova) from 17 to 18 July.

Investment in construction fell by 0.7% in nominal terms in 2024 compared with the previous year. Investment in building construction fell by 1.1% and investment in civil engineering rose by 1.3%. New construction projects saw 2.7% less investment, while investment in renovation projects rose by 2.3%. These are the provisional findings from the Construction Statistics of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

On 17 and 18 July 2025, State Secretary Daniela Stoffel will represent Switzerland at the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Durban, South Africa. The delegation will also include Martin Schlegel, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank. The meeting under South Africa's G20 presidency will cover topics such as the global economic and debt situation, the stability and further development of the international financial architecture, and international tax issues.