POSITION PAPER

AISMUN

Country: USA
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2
Tran Anh Khoa

Topic: The question of implementing clean energy in LEDCs.

“Energy is vital to every economy the world over…from a policy standpoint, it's
engaging with countries to make sure they understand they have choices and what
those choices are. And what can we do in foreign policy to help them gain access to
multiple choices so they're not captive to just one or a dominant source.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, January 11, 2017.
1. National level:
USA’s 2018 budget will make a cut in renewable energy research and
eliminate agencies within the Department of Energy that fund energy
technology projects. In the official FY18 budget, there will be the termination of
the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a bipartisan
initiative that funds research into cutting-edge energy technology. USA also
reduces the budget of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy (EERE) to $636 million or 70 percent, below the FY16
budget.
2. International level:
Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) promotes U.S. interests globally on
critical issues such as: ensuring economic and energy security for the U.S.
and our allies and partners. Three of our main objectives in energy support
programs are:
Energy Security – we strengthen U.S. and global energy security and
prosperity.
ENR leads America’s efforts to ensure worldwide energy security by fostering diverse
global energy supplies from all energy sources. ENR leads the promotion of U.S.
liquid natural gas (LNG) exports globally and coordinates with governments and
companies to pursue energy diversification and efficient and sustainable energy
policies.
Energy Policy – we promote an “all of the above” energy strategy focusing on
secure, stable, diversified, and modern global energy systems.
We provide technical assistance, share U.S. best practices and communicate
opportunities and risks to governments and industry to advance U.S. energy
priorities and businesses. These initiatives are based on the development of
solid policy analysis, advanced by our diplomatic outreach and funded through
our Energy Programs and Planning office.
Energy Market Initiatives – we promote American prosperity by facilitating
open, fair, and competitive markets abroad.
In 2018, USA government provide support for other nations base on these: a broad
range of market-based energy solutions including: advanced energy technologies, oil
and liquefied natural gas, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and governance
solutions to advance U.S. interests, global energy security, and economic
development. ENR works with multilateral, foreign and domestic energy stakeholders
to strengthen good governance, increase transparency, and remove barriers to energy
development and trade for U.S. investors.

Topic: The question of preventing offshore tax evasion.

“The Paradise Papers reveal how corporations, billionaires and senior officials in the
Trump Administration use complicated financial maneuvers to hide their income from
the Internal Revenue Services. The Budget Committee has a responsibility to U.S.
taxpayers to get to the bottom of this serious issue.”
Sanders, U.S. Senate, November 8th 2017

1. National level:
Under the federal law of the United States of America, tax evasion or tax fraud, is the
purposeful illegal attempt of a taxpayer to evade assessment or payment of a tax
imposed by Federal law. Conviction of tax evasion may result in fines and
imprisonment. US tax authorities are intensifying their efforts to find tax evaders and
the bankers who assist them, deploying agents to examine reams of data collected
from the Panama Papers, Swiss banks and whistleblowers.

In 2010, it enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Under
FATCA, any foreign bank or other financial institution has to report to the IRS
accounts held by American citizens and residents. The penalty for failure to comply is
a hefty 30 percent tax on the foreign bank’s U.S. income.

2. International level:
USA is taking a deep breath before slashing taxes. During this period, USA are
making deal with other nations, such as Greece, that all information that is included on
a financial declaration will be automatically shared between the two countries in order
to make it harder to avoid taxation. Any financial institution that do not comply with
the obligation to automatically exchange information will be fined 5,000 euros. So
farm there are more than 100 “intergovernmental agreements” (IGAs) that the U.S.
Treasury has negotiated with various countries. Under the IGAs, the foreign banks can
disclose the information about U.S. account holders to their government, which can
turn it over to the IRS. This avoids legal problems from the banks dealing directly
with the IRS, which is illegal in most countries. Even Switzerland has signed an IGA.
Currently, Swiss banks- a well-known location for tax envasion- are under
investigation. In 2016, the U.S. crackdown on Swiss banks suspected of helping
American clients evade taxes by hiding income offshore has imposed more than $1.3
billion in penalties. Overall, more than 54,000 taxpayers have come clean during the
U.S. crackdown and paid more than $8 billion in taxes, interest and penalties after the
government actions. US authorities were pursuing so-called leavers, or citizens who
moved their accounts to other offshore locales after the Swiss banks came under
investigation.
USA aims to negotiate with other nations, and organisations to prevent tax evasion
oversea. The country also supports to fine institutions that related to those activties.

3. The question of refining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

(UNSDG).

“We commit ourselves to new Sustainable Development Goals…we recognize that

our most basic bond—our common humanity—compels us to act…we reaffirm that
supporting development is not charity, but is instead one of the smartest investments
we can make in our own future.”
President Barack Obama, Sept. 27, 2015

1. National level:
When the UN announced the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, the intended
beneficiaries were clear- only developing nations were benefited. However, the
breadth of the SDGs goes far beyond what the MDGs envisioned, leaving room for
developed countries to benefit from the goals as well.
Building on ongoing municipal sustainable development planning efforts, the USA
Sustainable Cities Initiative (USA-SCI) is supporting SDG achievement strategies in
three pilot US cities: New York (New York), Baltimore (Maryland), and San Jose
(California). These cities will be global pioneers – the first to develop SDG-based
city-level development strategies that will serve as a model for cities worldwide.
Since 2015, USA carried on the U.S. National Statistics for the UN Sustainable
Development Goals website for reporting USA progess toward SDG goals. However,
there is a problem occuring, there is no universal indicator for this program around the
world; therefore, USA are currently develop one. This research and develop has
continue over 2 years; however, it is not finished. USA wants to collaborate with other
nations to come up an universal indicator.

2. International level:
There are some question that USA and other nations should anwser during the
meeting. For example, consider the single goal of “access to affordable, reliable,
sustainable and modern energy for all” (Goal 7). Who will need to be involved in
developing, producing, installing and maintaining the technologies to provide
universally accessible energy? Who is involved in determining what is “reliable and
“affordable” for different communities in different parts of the world? How do
governments, the private sector, and communities interact in deciding on appropriate
and sustainable energy systems, and how does this differ in different contexts?
Sustainable development inherently involves many different stakeholders operating at
many different scales, from national governments, to transnational corporations, to
local and international NGOs, to small villages, and many more. That is why there
must be a clean plan for all stakeholders to work collaboratively together.

Secondly, how government make decision between the dfficulties of trade off. It is
crucial to recognize that difficult choices will also need to be made that may involve
winners and losers, at least in the short term. For example, biodiversity could be
threatened if forests are cut down to expand agricultural production for food security.
Food security could be threatened if food crops are switched to biofuel production for
energy security. Water security could be threatened by decisions to intensify or expand
agriculture, or to build hydropower for energy security and greenhouse gas mitigation.