The economic promotion organization “Greater Zurich Area”, which brought Google to Zurich around twenty years ago, could expand to the west. The neighboring canton of Aargau wants to join this club of 9 cantons around the metropolis, he indicated on Monday. It thus hopes to attract companies with high added value.
Already a member of this promotion alliance between 2007 and 2010, the canton of Aargau left it fifteen years ago. At the time the “Greater Zurich area” was too oriented towards companies that optimize their taxation, which did not correspond to Aargau’s expectations.
Today things have changed. Dieter Egli, Aargau state councilor in charge of the economy, wants to attract international companies, as he explains in La Matinale on Friday: “The best solution for us is to get closer to a marketing organization. The ” Greater Zurich Area” is the closest. It is a rapprochement with Zurich which already exists from an economic point of view.”
Discussion also with Basel
Discussions also took place with the economic promotion of the Basel region, but without reaching an agreement, notes Christof Klöpper, director of Basel Area Business & Innovation: “The concept of promoting Basel Area Business & Innovation is to work closely with innovation. But the canton of Aargau did not want this aspect. So we refused to work with them just for economic promotion. But what matters in the end is that there is one more canton that is committed to promoting on the international market. You know, in the United States, we work together with Zurich, but also with. Lausanne or Geneva is a new player. which gives more weight to the whole, that pleases us.”
The proposal from the Aargau State Council is now under consultation. Participation in the “Greater Zurich Area” is in fact not free: it would cost 12 million francs over eight years.
Delphine Gendre/lan
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