20 May 2016

Rajiv Servansingh - DTAA Protocol: Why It’s Not All Lost Yet

The outcome of the Protocol having failed to gather consensus among the national constituents, there is space and time for government to press on the Indian party not to ratify the document

It would be futile and even irresponsible to continue into a blame game as far as the recent developments concerning the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India are concerned. The fact of the matter is that the protocol has been signed and all those concerned have to come to terms with the fact that a totally new situation has been created. Which does not mean that we have to accept this new situation but simply that there is no way of going back to the ”status quo ante”.

Excerpts:

A distinction needs to be made between negotiations - the outcome of which lies in the Protocol which has been signed - and ratification. The outcome of the Protocol having failed to gather consensus among the national constituents, there is space and time for government to press on the Indian party not to ratify the document. We should have the modesty to plead that the negotiations were carried out under “abnormal” conditions and the Prime Minister should take the lead in initiating conversations with the highest authority in India - Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

The political leaders of India - including Prime Ministers from late Indira Gandhi to Narendra Modi - and of different political parties have always maintained that India would never undertake any action which would in any way hurt the interests of Mauritius. No Mauritian in his right mind would even dare to think that these were merely reassuring statements with no real intent. And yet however much the Indians may protest, it is obvious that they have finally come out of this tussle as the undisputed winners and that the interests of Mauritius in this particular instance could be badly damaged...

Mauritius Times

No comments: