“With the signing of these TEIA’s, we are making important steps forward in our efforts to strengthen our international financial sector," announced Netherlands Antilles State Secretary of Finance, Alex Rosaria, commenting on the new TIEA, which was signed in Madrid on 10th June.

Rosaria went on to add, according to a Caribbean Net News report, that the Netherland Antilles authorities will continue to crack down on money laundering and terror financing.

The State Secretary further announced that the Netherland Antilles was about to sign a TIEA with Mexico. Meanwhile the jurisdiction is continuing to negotiate with Suriname and the United Arab Emirates towards bilateral TIEAs, and has agreed to negotiate with Canada, Barbados, Jamaica and Colombia.

The Netherland Antilles has been actively expanding its network of TIEAs in recent times, and a tax information exchange agreement with Australia entered into force just last month.

However, in February, Rosaria announced that the tax treaty policy for Netherland Antilles would change this year to become focused more on treaties to avoid double taxation (Double Taxation Agreement: DTA) and less on tax information-exchange treaties.

"Although of vital importance, TIEAs are do not particularly bring about new economic activities for the international financial services sector," he explained in a statement.

"DTAs on the other hand do contribute to economic activity because they focus on stimulating investments," the Secretary of Finance went on to observe.