MPs to discuss proposed tax agreement in US

Parliament's Foreign and European Affairs Committee will fly to the United States tomorrow to meet its congressional counterparts.

On the agenda are a proposed double-taxation agreement between Malta and the US and the visa-waiver programme. Malta is currently not among the EU countries that enjoy the waiver of a visa requirement for visits to the US.

The delegation, which is visiting at the invitation of the US Embassy, is made up of committee chairman Jason Azzopardi and MPs Evarist Bartolo, Leo Brincat, Clyde Puli, Mario de Marco and Josè Herrera. The committee will be in the US until April 27.

In Washington, the committee is expected to visit the US Department of Treasury and to meet the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Council on Foreign Relations, the House Committee on International Relations and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It will also visit the Museum of American History and the Library of Congress.

The committee will also be visiting New York where it is expected to meet the deputy UN secretary general, Louise Frechette. Visits to the US Mission at the UN and to the Maltese Centre in Astoria are also planned for New York.

The committee has also been invited to visit Baltimore, Maryland, where visits to the Maryland Port Administration, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development are scheduled.