The news that both governments would be working towards the completion of a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) and Mutual Customs Assistance Treaty emerged during a visit to Bridgetown last week by Alex Rosaria, Netherlands Antilles' State Secretary of Finance

According to a report by CBC, Vanessa Tore, Business Information Officer with the Curacao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said that Barbados is among nine priority countries being targetted in the Caribbean as part of the jurisdiction's strategy of increasing regional trade links.

Rosario commented during the Barbadian trip that: “After years of behaving somewhat as indifferent onlookers, the Netherlands Antilles is pursuing a policy of being a committed neighbour.”

The Netherlands Antilles have tended to move away from double tax treaty arrangements during recent years. At one time the country had treaties with a number of prominent countries, including the US and the UK. Most of these treaties have lapsed, and the only remaining double tax treaty as such is with Norway and the the 'BRK' tax agreement with the Netherlands. A 'mini-'Treaty,' the product of failed tax treaty negotiations with Washington in 1987, continues to give exemption from US withholding taxes to Eurobonds issued before 1984.

The Netherland Antilles is also keen on increasing its links to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which is in the process of establishing a single Caribbean market, after formally requesting to become an associate member of the group earlier this year.