One of the best Valentine’s Day gifts Barbados could have received was the decision by the European Union (EU) Council to remove the island from its harmful list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.While the country was still celebrating the exhilarating performance of National Hero and global business mogul Robyn Rihanna Fenty at the Super Bowl on Sunday night, the news was circulating that the island was being released from an imposition that had deep implications for our ability to do business with the rest of the financial world.The various black and grey listings by the EU have been longstanding sources of discomfort and ire for not only Barbados but several other Caribbean nations and small island developing states searching for ways to diversify their economies.Mr Jamar Arthur-Selman, president of BIBA, the Association for Global Business, was quoted in the local media welcoming the move. He described it as “a nice basis for us to continue to attract foreign direct investment, and for us to be able to help companies feel settled, without incurring any extra due diligence measures that may be imposed on a country that is listed by the EU”.We understand that Mr Arthur-Selman is pleased because it lifts an enormous millstone from around the neck of the international business community operating on the island.
