STATEMENT BY MR. VIVEK GANESH, FIRST SECRETARY, PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS UNDER AGENDA ITEM 4 AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE TO DRAFT A UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TAX COOPERATION AND ITS TWO EARLY PROTOCOLS, UNHQ, NEW YORK

Thank you, Chair.

1 Singapore would like to concur with the comments previously made by a number of delegations – Saudi Arabia, Spain, Argentina, Estonia, and the UAE – and I would like to thank our colleague from Saudi Arabia for very eloquently explaining the point I wanted to make. That it is also our recollection that, even though these four topics were selected and agreed upon by the Ad Hoc Committee on Tax, there were questions posed on the work of the Committee last year as to specific terminology, definitions, nomenclature being used, and what were the outcomes envisioned. What we found was that there were differing views on the expected outcomes.

2 While members in this room certainly might have a foundational understanding of what these topics pertain to, what is unclear at this stage is how they would manifest in the context of the work of this Committee and in the context of a Framework Convention and Protocols. We would therefore appreciate some clarity on these questions, precisely because we want to conclude the work of this Committee efficiently and successfully. This will help us scope our interventions and our work, help the Bureau in its planning, and facilitate the debates in the Committee. So, we believe that contextualisation is very important for our work here, and to that end, we would appreciate clarification from the Secretariat.

3 Thank you

. . . . .