London G20: Protectionists named and shamed
By politics.co.uk staff
The British delegation at the London G20 summit has revealed the communiqué being agreed upon by world leaders will ‘name and shame’ countries that revert to protectionism.
Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the Treasury, told inthenews.co.uk that the measure was essential to tackle the recession.
Tax-havens are also in the UK’s sights, with countries that fail to comply with new directives also set to be pilloried.
“The era of banking secrecy is over,” Mr Timms said. “We must step up tax information exchange agreements.”
The minister denied that the move was a ‘smoke-screen’ to divert attention away from favourable tax agreements on both sides of the Atlantic.
“There is a firm agreement to maintain pressure [on countries that do not submit to the new tax-haven regulations].
“Ultimately we are looking for a tangible outcome.”
A key aspect of today’s talks at London’s ExCel is expected to be a doubling of the International Monetary Fund’s resources to $500 billion.
Mr Timms added that he was also confident that long-awaited agreement on the inconclusive Doha round of trade talks could be reached this year.
