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PRESS STATEMENT BY DEPUTY PREMIER & MINISTER OF FINANCE THE HON. PAULA A. COX, JP, MP 4th OCTOBER, 2007

06 October 2007

Hamilton, Bermuda, October 5, 2007 - I am pleased to inform the public that the Australia-Bermuda tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) I signed in at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC on November 10, 2005, entered into force on September 20, 2007.

The Australian Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer Peter Dutton has on Tuesday of this week publicly acknowledged to Australian media that the TIEA with Bermuda entered into force on September 20, 2007.

This follows the recent exchange of diplomatic notes between Australian officials and me. Bermuda as a leading responsible international financial center is pleased to strengthen our relationship with Australia in support of our commitment made to the OECD in 2000.

Our commitment was to adopt further legal mechanisms that allow tax information to be exchanged with other jurisdictions in a more timely and effective manner similar to the 1986 Tax Information Exchange Agreement that Bermuda has with the USA.

We were impressed with Australia's good will approach to the negotiations and look forward to this higher level relationship developing even closer ties between our two countries. A key benefit arising from this stronger relationship with Australia was Australia's recognition of the Bermuda Stock Exchange.