Statement by RUAG regarding business activities in the UAE: RUAG present in United Arab Emirates for over 20 years

Media reports have appeared about the RUAG subsidiary RUAG Simulation Company LLC in Abu Dhabi which failed to take some key aspects into account.

RUAG, an international technology group, states its position as follows:

• RUAG has been supplying the United Arab Emirates with simulators for training military and security personnel for over 20 years – in compliance with Swiss legislation.
• RUAG Simulation & Training Ltd in Abu Dhabi was founded at the end of 2014 - prior to the outbreak of the Yemen crisis - primarily in order to work off contractual offset obligations that had been outstanding for a long time.
• RUAG reported transparently on the founding of this company in its 2015 Annual Report: http://www.ruag.com/group/annual-report/financial-year-2015/ .
• RUAG has greatly reduced its presence in the region. RUAG is now only working to meet contractual obligations which it had entered into before the outbreak of the Yemen conflict.
• In addition, RUAG regularly attends IDEX - the International Defense Exhibition and Conference - in Abu Dhabi. At the last IDEX in February 2015, the Swiss defense industry was represented in the region by a Swiss pavilion and by an official Swiss delegation led by the Chief of the Armed Forces.
• RUAG is conscious of its responsibility as a supplier of military applications for aerospace and defense, and supplies military applications only to identifiable, bona fide business partners - and always does so in compliance with the Swiss Confederation's export regulations.
• For RUAG, international business is indispensable for ensuring that it will also be able to provide the Swiss Armed Forces with services in line with global market prices and with state-of-the-art technology. With its growth abroad, RUAG is also strengthening Switzerland as a center of industry.