LatinNews Daily - 03 October 2016

Argentina: On 26 September, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew met Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri and Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay in Buenos Aires. Noting that this is the first visit by a US Treasury Secretary to Argentina since 2002, a US Treasury press release highlighted that Lew and his team “have been working closely with Minister Prat-Gay and his staff since the beginning of the Macri administration”. The press release also notes that the focus of discussions was on “carrying forward our work to negotiate a comprehensive Bilateral Tax Treaty, including provisions that allow for the exchange of tax information. To accelerate the process of sharing tax data on Argentine residents in the US, [the US] Treasury and Argentina’s tax agency (Afip) will immediately begin assessing Argentina’s preparedness to receive such information and to explore steps to expedite the process”.  The press release adds that Lew has “invited Argentina's representatives to visit Treasury next week for consultations, and…[has] instructed Treasury’s senior tax negotiators to visit Buenos Aires in the near future. We also plan to discuss enhancing our collective efforts to combat money laundering and illicit finance”. The press release also cites Lew as saying that “In particular, I want to emphasize the importance of the recent re-establishment of information sharing between our financial intelligence units – the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN for short) in the US, and the UIF in Argentina”. It continues that “the appropriate sharing of financial intelligence via secure channels for use by our respective law enforcement communities is critical in the fight against terrorism, money laundering and other illicit activity. The recently strengthened and growing relationship between FinCEN and the UIF will benefit both our countries. Treasury will also support Argentina’s efforts to combat money laundering through technical assistance to the UIF”.

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