Ministry of Finance and Trade officials said this yesterday after principal secretary in the ministry Ahmed Afif, and Swaziland’s principal finance officer Nokuthula Dlamini initialed a DTA between the two countries after several days of negotiations.

Seychelles now has 12 DTAs in force and hopes to widen its network, said the officials.

Besides helping avoidance of double taxation, the agreement initialed yesterday will also remove the risk of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

“The agreement provides for certainty with regard to taxes payable on incomes generated from investments made between the two countries,” said Rupert Simeon, the director general for policy and strategy.

“It also provides an inducement to nationals of both countries to focus their attention on increasing trade, services, investment and employment opportunities,” he told Nation.

The agreement will hopefully be signed later this year and after ratification, come into effect no later than 2012, he said.