US Treasury Secretary Announces Support For Liechtenstein

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

15 May 2002

During bilateral talks held in Washington last week, the US Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill told Liechtenstein's Head of Government, Otmar Hasler that America supports equal rights for small states within the OECD, according to a report in the Liechtensteiner Vaterland on Monday.

The principality of Liechtenstein is one of seven territories remaining on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's blacklist of 'uncooperative tax havens', despite Mr Hasler's assertions that the government has submitted an offer of cooperation to the multilateral body, which has thus far been ignored.

According to Mr Hasler, the US Treasury Secretary expressed his government's intention to stand up for Liechtenstein and other small sovereign states during future OECD talks.

Liechtenstein's Head of Government also told the newspaper that the Bush administration last week praised the principality for its role in the international fight against money laundering, and indicated that the United States was interested in intensifying cooperation with regard to the campaign against terrorist financing, money laundering, and organised crime.

Meanwhile, Liechtenstein Government Councillor, Ernst Walch visited Austria last week to discuss increasing bilateral cooperation between the two countries, financial services concerns, and European integration.

Austria is one of several countries which threatens to throw a spanner in the works of the European Union's banking secrecy directive, having stated - alongside Luxembourg - that it will not amend its bank client confidentiality laws until Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Switzerland have also agreed to do so.

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