Saturday 15 June 2013
Guernsey's Chief Minister has attended a "tax, trade and transparency" meeting with governments from around the world today.
The Chief Minister was invited to attend the pre-G8 Open for Growth meeting at Lancaster House by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The meeting was also attended by his counterparts from Jersey and the Isle of Man, as well as representatives from the G8 members, from African and Latin-American nations, and from the UK's Overseas Territories. The event is part of the UK's G8 tax, trade and transparency agenda.
Prior to the Open for Growth meeting, the Chief Minister attended the Trooping of the Colour as one of the Prime Minister's guests, and also met with him alongside the Chief Ministers of Jersey and the Isle of Man and representatives of the Overseas Territories.
The Chief Minister, Deputy Peter Harwood, said:
"We had a frank conversation with the Prime Minister, and I asked him to acknowledge the strong track record Guernsey has on tax transparency, on information exchange and on beneficial ownership - the latter demonstrated by Guernsey being one of the few jurisdictions in the world, including G8 members, to actually regulate trust and corporate service providers. I made a similar point to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP, who chaired the session on tax. I was pleased that during the session on tax, Christian Aid's Chief Executive acknowledged the work done and commitments given by the Crown Dependencies on tax transparency."
The Open for Growth meeting was attended by around 150 people, including:
- Ministerial representatives from each G8 member
- Heads of Government and Ministers from non-G8 countries
- Senior representatives from the private sector, international organisations and NGOs
The Chief Minister, Deputy Peter Harwood, said:
"Guernsey welcomed the G8 and this meeting as opportunities to set out our leadership on tax and transparency. It was certainly useful to meet other participants in the tax session, and to ask them to look beyond political rhetoric and judge Guernsey on the actions for tax transparency and against tax evasion that it has taken.
"The session was constructive and candid, and many in the room will now understand Guernsey better. From a Guernsey perspective, I now wait with interest to see what G8 members do on issues such as beneficial ownership in order to meet the standards that we already achieve."
The UK today set out its commitment to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters.
The Chief Minister, Deputy Peter Harwood, said:
"Ahead of this meeting, I set out Guernsey's support for the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention is a significant step towards creating a global level playing field in tax information exchange. Given that, I am committed to recommending to Guernsey's legislative assembly that Guernsey signs up to the Convention, subject to the agreement of appropriate reservations."
The UK today also announced its intention for all of the G8 members to publish 'action plans' on beneficial ownership on Tuesday. To demonstrate its support for this agenda, Guernsey has chosen to do so along with the G8 members.
The Chief Minister, Deputy Peter Harwood said:
"I welcome the UK's commitment to improve the supervision and enforcement of company formation agents in the UK and other jurisdictions, and which will bring those jurisdictions up to the standards that have been in place in Guernsey since the year 2000. However we also recognise that Guernsey has an obligation to maintain its position among those jurisdictions who show leadership on the recording of details on beneficial ownership. For that reason we will also set out an action plan of steps that will further strengthen the procedures we already have in place to prevent the misuse of companies and legal arrangements in Guernsey."
-Ends-
