Calls to review taxation agreement
AN area for immediate consideration and co-operation is a review of the New Zealand-Fiji double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA).
Speaking at the Fiji-New Zealand Business Council conference on Saturday, Ministry of Industry and Trade permanent secretary Shaheen Ali said it was woefully out-of-date and needed revision.
He said this was to ensure that investors in both countries benefited from the full range of incentives on offer.
“Another area for co-operation is the potential for incentivising NZ investors to outsource parts of production processes to Fiji and other Pacific island nations.
“We believe there are comparative advantages in the region and it can make sense to a company’s bottom line to move parts of its production process here.”
The agreement is essentially bilateral agreements entered into by two countries and the basic objective was to avoid, taxation of income in both the countries and to promote and foster economic trade and investment between the two countries.
“But I also believe that if both sides can agree on the principle of equal partnership — and take actions to support it — the opportunities for trade and investment between Fiji and NZ have a staggering potential for growth,” Mr Ali said.
The bottom line, he said, was that NZ and Fiji were natural trading partners and must work together to reach the full potential of two countries relationship.
NZ acting head of mission Mark Ramsden said Fiji was a very important market for NZ.
