• Commonwealth:
• Documents:
• Media Room:
• Press Archive Search:
• Commonwealth and OECD Countries to hold high-level consultations on 'harmful tax competition'

Commonwealth and OECD Countries to hold high-level consultations on 'harmful tax competition'

3 January 2001

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are to hold high-level consultations between OECD and Commonwealth countries and certain of their overseas dependent territories, on the OECD's Harmful Tax Competition Initiative. The Government of Barbados is hosting the discussions, which will take place from 7 to 9 January 2001 in St Michaels, Barbados.

The meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados, will provide the first real opportunity for multilateral dialogue between the OECD and other jurisdictions on 'harmful tax competition'. It follows a call by Commonwealth governments at the annual Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting (FMM) in Malta in September 2000, for the initiation of such talks as soon as possible with a view to promoting consensus.

The OECD Initiative stems from an April 1998 report it published - Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue - which contained 19 recommendations to counter what it saw as the "harmful" tax competition of capital income. Subsequently the organisation set up a Forum on Harmful Tax Practices to oversee the implementation of the recommendations.

Central to the OECD Initiative are the concerns of its member countries about the impact of globalisation on mobility of capital and labour outflows, and the implications of such a changing global environment for taxation approaches. As a result, the OECD is seeking increased co-operation in taxation matters from a number of offshore financial centres worldwide, including many Commonwealth jurisdictions. Many of the world's offshore financial centres are located within the Commonwealth, and the sector remains an important source of economic output and employment for those countries.

At the Malta FMM, Ministers mandated the Commonwealth Secretariat to facilitate high-level multilateral dialogue on harmful tax competition. The discussions in Barbados are in line with this mandate, and follow close consultations between the OECD and the Commonwealth Secretariat in order to establish a co-operative global framework for negotiations on these matters.

Its objective will be to consider early confidence building measures, and develop a shared perspective on the way forward, in the wake of recent moves by OECD countries designed to facilitate dialogue with jurisdictions outside the OECD area.

The Commonwealth Secretariat, in association with the OECD Forum, is co-sponsoring the Barbados meeting. Invitations to attend the conference have been extended to the governments of both OECD and Commonwealth countries, as well as to representatives of the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and relevant regional organisations.

High level delegations, including Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance of many Commonwealth countries, will be joining the consultations. All Commonwealth regions, including the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, Asia, Europe and Africa, will be represented at these important negotiations.

...................................
Note to Editors

For further information, please contact:


Nick Bray Mwambu Wanendeya
Media Relations Division
OECD Press Office
Tel: + 33 1 45 24 80 90
Fax: + 33 1 45 24 80 03
e-mail: nicholas.bray@oecd.org
Information & Public Affairs Division
Commonwealth Secretariat
Tel: + 44 20 7747 6382
Fax: + 44 20 7839 9081
email: m.wanendeya@commonwealth.int










01/1 3 January 2001

ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int