India and US to Revive Action Against Financing of Terrorism, Money Laundering
GG News Bureau
Washington, 16th Oct. After a high-level meeting on the Economic and Financial Partnership led by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, India and the US have said that they will revive the action against terrorism-financing, tax evasion and money laundering.
In a joint statement after the 8th US-India Economic and Financial Partnership (USIEFP) meeting in Washington on Thursday, said, We continue to strengthen our cooperation in tackling money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism through increased information sharing and coordination.
Both sides agree on the importance of fighting financial crimes and on the effective implementation of the Financial Action Task Force standards to protect our financial systems from abuse.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a 49-member Paris-based international organization that fights the financing of terrorism and money laundering. It works as an anti-terrorist organization.
Sitharaman and Yellen said their countries look forward to continuing information sharing to combat offshore tax evasion. They also raised the issue of tax avoidance by multinationals, which is not necessarily illegal but leads to revenue loss for some countries, as others have low corporate tax levels to attract companies.
They said India and the US will work together to expedite the adoption of last month’s agreement by the G20 grouping of major economies to impose taxes on multinationals. They called it a significant achievement in updating the international tax architecture to make it more stable, fair and objective-appropriate for the 21st century.
US and Indian finance chiefs said they would continue to discuss a full reciprocal arrangement for an intergovernmental agreement under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which would require both individuals and financial institutions holding accounts in the other country. They will be required to report them to the tax authorities in the countries. Sitharaman and Yellen also discussed climate finance.
The joint statement of the two sides said that the meeting mainly focused on combating financial crimes, as well as showing commitment to immediate progress in combating climate change. Along with this, India and the US shared their views on the global efforts made towards climate change.
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