Vanuatu Government Calls For Pacific Association Of Offshore Financial Regulators

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

27 September 2001

Vanuatu's Minister for Finance, Joe Carlo, has called upon the authorities of other small pacific island countries to consider creating a Pacific Forum Island Nations Association of Regulators of Offshore Financial Services.

During a recent meeting of the Registrars of Financial and Banking services in Port Vila, Mr Carlo argued that most pacific islands are struggling to cope with the pressure from organisations such as the OECD which is threatening to strip Vanuatu of its major income as a tax haven. 'The problems we face are the same yet often little effort is made to take a common stand on some of these issues as a group,' he said.

Vanuatu embarked upon a Draft Charter to establish a Pacific Forum Island Nations Association of Regulators of Offshore Financial Services in 1999 but it has not yet come to fruition.

'It is now time that serious thought be given to this idea in the light of increasing international pressures to enable our regulators to share in a common forum for the benefit and growth of our financial centers,' added Mr Carlo.

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