The Minister of Finance is surprised that Namibia has been labelled a tax haven by the European Union. In fact, Namibia, Calle Schlettwein said, has a transparent tax regime, and therefore rejects the assessment. He said Namibia and EU officials at its embassy in Windhoek were discussing the country’s compliance with EU tax haven requirements. As the engagement were still ongoing, Namibia was advised of the deadline to inform EU of the government’s commitment to implement proposed actions. “Due to miscommunication we missed that deadline but that does not make Namibia a non-compliant country or a tax haven. We are therefore perplexed to learn that the EU has revealed names of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, said Schlettwein. The minister is also surprised that the Oxfam’s 2016 list of 15 Worst Tax Havens, which includes countries such as Switzerland, The Cayman Islands, Luxemburg, Bahamas, Mauritius and British Virgin Islands, do not feature on the latest EU blacklist. He said the list appears to be politically motivated, adding that Namibia is actually exposed to illicit financial outflows as has been revealed in the Paradise Papers. “If Namibia was a tax haven why should people move money out of namibia? We are victims,” said Schlettwein. The minister also revealed that the EU wants Namibia to sign up to four agreements based on the union’s criteria for tax compliance. And Namibia has indicated willingness to sign up to these agreements. However the EU does not want Namibia to provide incentive schemes manufacturing to grow the country’s productive sector. He said it is unfair to expect Namibia to do this, suggesting the EU wants to arm twist the country into complying to this. “We conclude that this unilateral action against Namibia by the EU is unjust, prejudiced, partisan, discriminatory and biased,” he said. The minister was due to have an urgent meeting with the EU ambassador to Namibia on the matter.