Obama urges Caribbean tax havens to be transparent

U.S. President Barack Obama gestures during the opening ceremony of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain April 17, 2009.

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Caribbean nations used by some people to hide taxable income to move towards greater transparency while acknowledging they need time to do it, an adviser said.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers said the issue, discussed at the G20 meeting of major economies in London this month, had come up at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Some of the countries that have benefited from their status as havens noted how important those benefits had been to their economies," Summers told reporters in a briefing.

"The president indicated understanding of their situation and willingness to work constructively on transitions," he said. "But (he) also made it clear that he felt that addressing these kinds of concerns around secrecy and tax evasion and the like was really crucial to ... the kind of global economic and financial system ... that he wanted to create."

Leaders of the G20 supported the naming and shaming of some 40 secretive tax havens in a bid to crack down on tax evasion.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Xavier Briand)