Tobago internal self-governance and campaign finance reform are two of the major items set to dominate the government’s legislative agenda as it enters its final year in office.

Speaking at a post-cabinet media briefing on August 28 at Whitehall, the Prime Minister said Parliament had been on a recess that would come to an end on September 9, the last day of this Parliament.

He said Parliament would convene on that day to save certain items on the legislative agenda which would be raised again in the new parliamentary term which starts on September 13.

Dr Rowley said one of the major pieces of work the government intends to take into the next session is the Miscellaneous Provisions (Global Forum) Bill 2024 which addresses tax transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes across countries with the aim of ending bank secrecy and tax evasion.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) describes the Global Forum as “the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request and the standard of automatic exchange of financial account information.”

It says the Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information-sharing channels.

Speaking in Parliament on January 19, finance minister Colm Imbert said the bill was essential to the economic growth and development of TT.

He said the government was resolute in passing the bill as it must be implemented if TT was to be considered compliant.

“The Global Forum and EU have made it clear that even if we pass all of the required legislation, even if we make all of the amendments… that is not sufficient because they also want to also see them implemented, which will require a lot of work on the part of the Inland Revenue Division in particular.”

“Now have to make sure that the Inland Revenue does what it has to do in terms of exchange of information for tax purposes.”

From 4 to 8 March 2024, experts from the Global Forum Secretariat visited TT to discuss the progress and remaining challenges in the implementation of the standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

Rowley said the other major issue the government intended to address was a report by the Elections and Boundaries Commission regarding the review and recommendations of the establishment of constituencies and the adjustments of boundaries and polling divisions.

“That was in the Parliament and laid for quite some time. It has to be debated and we'll dispense with that very quickly in the new session.”

The report was laid in Parliament in April but was never debated. Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis said the report could not be debated because there must be notice.

Rowley said campaign-finance reform would also be looked at as it also affected the R