LONDON, England; Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - The Turks and Caicos Islands made history today by signing three Tax Information Exchange Agreements with three members of the OECD, viz: Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Treaties were signed by Honourable Royal Robinson, Minister of Finance representing the TCI. Signing on behalf of Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands was His Excellency Bobby Mc Donagh Ambassador of Ireland, Mr. Andrew Allen, Acting Director of the Overseas Territories Directorate in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Mr. Laurens Westhoff, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands respectively.
Following the signing, Honourable Robinson said ‘The Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands is pleased to demonstrate its commitment to adhering to the OECD principles of transparency and exchange of information by signing these treaties today. We are especially happy that these three Governments, all key members of the OECD, have agreed to cooperate with the Government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands in this manner.
For its part the Government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands will do their part to ensure that its financial services which are so pivotal to its economy maintain the standards set. Signing these treaties is evidence that the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland recognize that the services we provide are legitimate and contribute to the global economy. Further, we are especially pleased that all three countries recognize our history of cooperation in fighting financial and other crimes as well as acknowledge our plans to remain constructively engaged with the OECD.
The Turks and Islands Government is also currently negotiating Tax Exchange Information Agreements with a number of other countries, including 7 Nordic Countries, Germany, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. It is anticipated that these agreements will be signed in the forthcoming weeks.’
The signing ceremonies took place at the Embassy of Ireland, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Embassy of the Netherlands. Also on hand for the signing were Mr. Delton James, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Ms Tracy Knight, the TCI Representative in the UK.
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