Switzerland seeks to avoid tax haven blacklist

PARIS, March 18 - Switzerland does not belong on a tax haven "blacklist" and is working to convince partners of its determination to open up its bank secrecy laws, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said on Wednesday.

Swiss authorities have been trying to persuade the Group of 20 rich and emerging nations not to target Switzerland in a crackdown on opaque havens, where foreign investors put billions of dollars out of reach of their home tax authorities.

"Switzerland has no place on a list of tax havens," Calmy-Rey told reporters in Paris after a meeting with French Budget Minister Eric Woerth. "Switzerland is a cooperative country and applies recognised standards."

"It has now taken an additional step which has been welcomed by everybody," she said.

Last week Switzerland, the world's biggest offshore centre, agreed along with other financial centres like Luxembourg and Austria to relax its strict bank secrecy laws and cooperate in some cases of tax evasion.

It had previously shared information with foreign authorities only in cases of outright tax fraud but decided to expand the cooperation in the face of blacklist threats it feared would hurt its export industries as well as its banks.

The latest Swiss decision is likely to take some time before it is finally implemented as 74 separate joint tax agreements have to be negotiated with other countries.

"The people I have spoken to noted this commitment and decision by the Swiss government and declared themselves satisfied," Calmy-Rey said, although she could not say whether the Swiss position had been accepted.

"I don't have any guarantees to offer you but what was important was to provide this information and to say that once Switzerland takes a decision of this kind, it will, as it usually does, apply it seriously," she said.

Switzerland is not a member of the G20 and fears that it could be harmed when the group, which represents the powers that account for the bulk of the world's economy, reaches a decision on the blacklist at a summit on April 2.

The tax haven issue has led to fierce criticism of Switzerland by other governments desperate for any available revenue to shore up budgets strained by the massive requirements for public funds to support the crippled financial system.

German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck has been particularly outspoken and sparked outrage by comparing his southern neighbour to "Indians" running scared of the cavalry after the move to relax Swiss bank secrecy laws.

Calmy-Rey called Steinbrueck's comments "unacceptable, aggressive and contemptuous" and indicated that her meeting with Woerth had been more cordial.

"That was not difficult," she said.