Thursday 25 April 2013
Guernsey's Treasury Minister Deputy Gavin St Pier has returned from a series of joint meetings with Jersey and with US officials in Washington, discussing taxation, transparency and the fight against financial crime.
Deputy St Pier was in Washington with Senator Sir Philip Bailhache, Jersey's Assistant Chief Minister for External Relations - the first time that both Guernsey and Jersey have undertaken a joint Ministerial visit to Washington.
Deputy St Pier said:
"The meetings continued a dialogue started over a decade ago to strengthen ties between the Guernsey and the US government, and reinforced Guernsey's reputation as a leader in tax transparency, information exchange and international co-operation. Given that we are close to concluding our FATCA agreement with the US authorities, and the publication of our positive report from the OECD's Global Forum earlier this month, the timing for these meetings was excellent.
"Given the commonality of interests, a joint delegation with Jersey made sense. Sharing resources is more efficient, and serves as a model for co-operation in engagement with other jurisdictions where our interests are aligned. It works well in Brussels, it's been constructive in France, and it was certainly seen as constructive by those we met in Washington."
The focus of the meetings was reinforcing the working relationship between Guernsey and Jersey and the US on tax transparency, information exchange and the combating of financial crime. Meetings took place with representatives from Washington departments and committees including:
- The Department of the Treasury
- The Congress Joint Committee on Taxation
- The Senate Finance Committee
- The House Ways and Means Committee
- The Department of Justice
- The Department of State
Deputy St Pier said:
"I was very pleased to meet influential and key policy makers who have a good understanding of who we are, what we do and what we have done as co-operative members of the international community. This was encouraging and testimony to the work of previous Guernsey and Jersey delegations in prior years. My overall view was that the US will protect its interests, but that it intends no harm to Guernsey. However it is essential that we retain contact with key people in Washington to avoid our interests being damaged inadvertently in the future."
Deputy St Pier and Senator Bailhache were also joined by Mike Brown, Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey, and Colin Powell, International Advisor to Jersey's Chief Minister's Department.
-Ends-
Further Information
Meetings took place on 22 and 23 April with the following individuals:
- Thomas J. Barthold, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
- Paul Chen, Economist, Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
- Kristeen Witt, Legislation Counsel, Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
- Kristine Roth, Legislation Counsel, Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
- David Lenter, Legislation Counsel , Joint Committee on Taxation, US Congress
- Christopher Smart, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, Department of the Treasury
- Matthew Malloy, Deputy Director for Europe and Eurasia, Department of the Treasury
- Stewart H. Brant, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the International Tax Counsel, Department of the Treasury
- Eric Weeks, International Economist, Department of the Treasury
- Patrick D. Connell, Chief-Ireland & United Kingdom Unit, Office of Western European Affairs, State Department
- Majority Tax Counsel Jeffrey Vanderwolk, Senate Finance Committee
- Minority Tax Counsel Tony Coughlan, Senate Finance Committee
- Majority Tax Counsel Aharon Friedman, House Ways and Means Committee
- Minority Tax Counsel Aruna Kalyanam, House Ways and Means Committee
- Minority Tax Counsel Mike Hauswirth, House Ways and Means Committee
- Jaikumar Ramaswamy, Chief, Criminal Division's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Department of Justice
- Jack de Kluiver, Assistant Deputy Chief, Criminal Division's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Department of Justice
- Michael J. Burke, Senior International Counsel, Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Department of Justice
- Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark J. Mazur, Department of the Treasury
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert B. Stack, Treasury Department
- Brett S. York, Attorney Advisor, Office of the International Tax Counsel, Department of the Treasury
- Daniel L. Glaser, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, Office of Strategic Policy for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Department of the Treasury
- Raisa Sheynberg, Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser, Department of the Treasury
- Adam Vaccaro, Policy Advisor, Terrorism Finance and Financial Intelligence, Department of the Treasury
- Robert L. Roach, Counsel & Chief Investigator to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
