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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

OECD-Commonwealth Working Group Continues Discussions on Tax Co-operation

28 January 2001

First Meeting Of The Joint Working Group On OECD Harmful Tax Competition Initiative, London, 26-28 January 2001

A joint Working Group of jurisdictions from the Commonwealth and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) agreed to continue discussions on ways to achieve global co-operation on cross-border tax matters following three days of talks on 26-28 January 2001 at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

The meeting, jointly chaired by Mr Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, and Mr Tony Hinton, Australia's Ambassador to the OECD in Paris, discussed participants' understanding of the scope of the remit from the High Level Consultations in Barbados on 8-9 January and presented proposals on how work could be taken forward. The meeting identified a number of areas of agreement in relation to the need for dialogue and co-operation on tax matters with cross-border implications. However, it ended with an acknowledgement that further work is needed to achieve a mutually acceptable political process and the creation of a truly inclusive global tax forum.

The Working Group expressed their satisfaction with the frank and constructive spirit in which the talks took place and reaffirmed their objective of reaching an agreement as rapidly as possible.

Participants at the meeting included ministers and senior finance and tax officials from 13 countries or associated territories, as well as representatives of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the OECD Secretariat, Caricom Secretariat, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. The members of the Working Group are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands, France, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, Vanuatu and the United Kingdom.

Note: This News Release was issued jointly by the Secretariats of the Commonwealth and OECD.









01/04 28 January 2001
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