Mr. Speaker,

I wish to inform this House that this morning I met with the French Ambassador and was presented a letter from the French Minister of Public Action and Accounts, informing me that the French Government has included The Bahamas on the French list of non-cooperative states and territories in tax matters.

This blacklisting relates to our tax information exchange agreement with France and the perception by the French authorities that The Bahamas has not been responding to requests for information in a manner that is satisfactory to them.

The cases at question concern sensitive matters involving French nationals. While the Ministry has responded to these matters pursuant to our agreement, French authorities are of the view that our response was not sufficient.

It is disappointing and regrettable that France did not engage the dispute resolution mechanisms provided in the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters, which we signed in December 2017, to facilitate the exchange of information for tax purposes. This demonstrates a complete disregard for the damaging repercussions and significant long-term impact that these unilateral punitivemeasures have on allied countries like The Bahamas that are fully engaged at the highest levels of international cooperation.

The Bahamas is a member of the Global Forum for Tax Transparency, as is France. I was in France last week at the Global Forum Plenary with the French Minister of Finance and at no time was it indicated that France was considering this action or that there was a concern. I advised the Ambassador that such a surreptitious posture knowing that they intended to blacklist us is an affront to the amicable relationship that we have fostered with France.