Tuesday 18 June 2013
Chief Minister Deputy Peter Harwood said:
"I met with Christian Aid's Chief Executive on Saturday at the G8 Open for Growth meeting, and she acknowledged the work that Guernsey had done with developing countries. In fact the report they published that day showed that Guernsey had signed more tax information exchange agreements with developing countries than other Crown Dependencies or British Overseas Territories. Of course there is more for all jurisdictions to do - but Guernsey does not take a two-tier view of tax transparency, and in fact it is our policy to negotiate TIEAs with any jurisdiction which makes a request to do so, not just G20 or EU members for example.
"As Deputy St Pier said when he signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Botswana last month, Guernsey's tax team has built strong relationships with Southern African Development Community countries in the past few years. Back in October 2011, Ron van der Merwe, the Chair of the Tax Agreements Working Group of the SADC, said that the negotiation of tax agreements between SADC Member States and Guernsey was 'a major step forward in creating the basis for exchange of information for SADC members'. The The conclusion of an agreement with Botswana, the forthcoming signing of an agreement with Swaziland, which is in progress at present, and those expected to be concluded with Lesotho and Zambia shortly, show that Guernsey retains a strong commitment to working with and sharing best practice with SADC members and other developing economies."
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