Regional cooperation

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Zug is part of a larger economic region centred on Zurich and extending to Lucerne, Schwyz and Aargau. Many of its employees live in these cantons, while many of its residents work in Zurich. The region shares infrastructure, labour markets and housing markets. The canton's problems of housing and transport cannot be solved within its borders alone. Regional cooperation on planning, transport and housing is therefore essential for its future.

The Greater Zurich Area, the regional marketing organisation, already coordinates the promotion of the region to international companies. The cantons cooperate in the metropolitan conference of Zurich and in the central Swiss conferences.¹ The canton could strengthen this cooperation, for example by co-financing housing and transport projects in neighbouring cantons that benefit its economy, or by coordinating its tax and location policies with those of its neighbours. Such cooperation would require the canton to see itself as part of a region, a perspective that its history of autonomy and competition has not always encouraged.

Notes

Metropolitankonferenz Zürich, "Über uns", metropolitanraum-zuerich.ch: members are the eight cantons Zurich, Aargau, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, St. Gallen, Zug and Lucerne with about 110 towns and municipalities; Zentralschweizer Regierungskonferenz, zrk.ch: founded 1966 by Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zug for the joint fulfilment of public tasks. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

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Regional cooperation

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?