David Burt, the Premier, met with Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, yesterday in Paris.

Their meeting took place at OECD headquarters, Château de La Muette, and the two discussed the global minimum tax and Bermuda’s implementation of it.

Mr Burt also met with members of the OECD’s development co-operation directorate.

The Premier is travelling to London, Brussels and Paris for meetings and will return on Saturday.

Joined by Ken Joaquin, Registrar of Companies for the Ministry of Finance, and Aliyyah Ahad, the Government of Bermuda’s EU Representative, he is taking his second overseas tour since Bermuda was hit by a cyberattack.

He described his trip to Europe as one of reassuring international regulators that Bermuda is a transparent and co-operative jurisdiction, in an interview with Janet Babin of The Insurer TV.

“The thrust of the message is that Bermuda is a co-operative and transparent jurisdiction that keeps up with the latest international standards and prides itself in meeting those standards,” he said.

“We have made a concerted effort to ensure that Bermuda is a place for sound businesses, for stable businesses and for businesses that are doing the right thing. It’s a place to raise capital. It’s a not a place to hide capital,” the Premier added.

“Oftentimes countries are painted with a broad brush. We happen to believe that our international financial services sector, our record and our regulator and also the government’s aims to make sure we combat money-laundering and terrorist financing are key, and sometimes those things are overlooked.”

In the wide-ranging interview with Ms Babin, the Premier provided some detail about the development of a corporate income tax, the first ever for the island.

“The global minimum tax is something coming from the OECD. The view that the government of Bermuda takes from a policy perspective is that we don’t believe for this tax to be revenue accretive to the government,” he said.

“So if there are additional revenues that could come from this tax, we want to reduce other taxes to ensure that the Bermuda economy remains competitive.

“We see that there could be a possibility to reduce those taxes or even possibly eliminate those taxes depending on the revenue that may come from the new global minimum tax.”

“We have an ambitious goal as a government to increase the working population by just under 20 per cent over the next few years, and we think it is going to be important to us to make sure Bermuda is an affordable place to live and an affordable place to do business,” he added.

“The global minimum tax is something I think companies broadly accept is going to come into place on a global scale. And I think companies are planning and preparing how that is going to be implemented and how that will impact them and their shareholders.”

“Remember, this tax is applicable throughout the world, and it doesn’t matter what jurisdiction you are operating in, the tax will be applicable. For us, it is important that we remain competitive on the other matters.”

Mr Burt took umbrage at the criticism he has received for leaving the island during a cyberattack.

“I would say that some of this criticism is just politics. That is what politicians will do sometime. Our job is to lead.

“Our job is to look at the future, our job is to ensure Bermuda’s place in the world as a jurisdiction of choice for financial services is maintained,” he said.

“And we can only do that by being in Washington DC, being in Brussels, being in Paris, being in London, speaking to policymakers, reinforcing the message that Bermuda is a co-operative and transparent jurisdiction, and that’s what we are doing now.”

Mr Burt said during the interview that many government systems have been restored. He said that e-mail is working for “critical users”, that government employees can log into their computers and that phone systems are back up.

He reiterated his stance that he was not wrong in singling out a country in the early days of the attack and said that his information about the source of the attack remains unchanged.

“I will never apologise for sharing the information I had given to me with the people who vote for me.

“The indications are that this originated from Russian-based actors. I was not stating the Russian Government. That information has not yet changed.”