Last week's UK/Caribbean Forum in London, the first to be held in the UK and co-chaired by Robin Cook, British Foreign Secretary, and Ralph Maraj, the Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Minister and current Chair of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations, saw a number of topics of common concern up for discussion, not least the prickly issue of taxation and regulation and the OECD's so-called 'hit-list' of jurisdictions with suspect taxation practices. But at the end of the two-day meeting the offshore jurisdictions could breathe easily again, with the Forum's final report revealing that the UK has no plans to force them out of business.
A joint statement from the Forum stated that 'in the future, the distinction would not be between onshore and offshore centres, but between those jurisdictions which met international standards and those which did not'.
The Forum in effect served to mediate between the representatives of the offshore communities and the OECD and stressed that the way forward was 'transparent regulatory and taxation environments with appropriate information exchange and the need for international standards available to all'. It has undoubtedly smoothed relations between the Caribbean side and the OECD. The Caribbean communities, plus Bermuda (part of the Caribbean region for the purposes of the Forum), expressed their concern at the timetable and methodology of the OECD initiative on harmful tax and in particular the burdens which it imposed on smaller countries. In reply, the OECD, together with the US, endorsed the UK opinion on the subject and expressed the view that the OECD initiative had developed to take account of the wish of many countries to enter into a dialogue with the OECD.
A new committee to steer the work of the UK/Caribbean Forum is to be set up and no doubt both the OECD and the offshore centres will be waiting to see exactly what international standards will be agreed and developed. In the meantime, the OECD has departed the London Forum somewhat softened in its outlook towards offshore activity, and the Caribbean community must surely feel a weight has lifted from its shoulders.
The full joint communique issued by the UK/Caribbean Forum can be found on www.fco.gov.uk/news/newstext.asp?3652 or in the Tax-news.com Resources Section
See related story UK/Caribbean Forum 2000 to Focus on Caribbean Concerns, 11 May 2000, Tax-News.com
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