1. Minister for Finance of Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts, Civil Service and State Reform of France, Mr Eric Woerth met today in Singapore. To enhance tax cooperation, both Ministers agreed that Singapore and France will work expeditiously to sign a Protocol to incorporate the internationally agreed Standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes in the existing bilateral DTA between the two countries later this year.
2.  Singapore has previously indicated its commitment to the new Standard, and aims to amend its legislation to allow it to cooperate with other countries in accordance with the Standard.
3. Minister Tharman and Minister Woerth agreed that a multilateral, transparent and impartial framework would be necessary to drive and monitor the implementation of the agreed Standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes by all jurisdictions, whether onshore or offshore.
4. Minister Tharman and Minister Woerth also exchanged views on regional economic developments in Asia and Europe amidst the current global economic downturn.
5. Minister Woerth expressed interest in Singapore's e-government policies and initiatives, and made visits to the Supreme Court (e-Justice system) and PSA (TradeExchange system) as part of his visit.      
   

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
13 July 2009