Paris — Mr. Thabo Mbeki, addressed the Member States and Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as well as its Development Assistance Committee (DAC) this week, in support of the global agenda to halt illicit financial flows (IFFs).
Speaking with Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD, Mr. Mbeki, who serves as the Chair of the AU-ECA High Level Panel (HLP) on IFFs from Africa, noted that several tools proposed by the OECD are relevant to the work of the Panel in stemming IFFs.
"The OECD has played an important role in building international consensus on matters relating to tax evasion and the need to ensure that multinational Corporations pay their fair share of tax across the various jurisdictions," he said.
For his part, Mr. Gurria stated that amidst the aftershock of several financial scandals, including the Panama Papers, the visit could not be more timely.
"Recent events have underscored the urgency with which illicit financial flows must be tackled," he stressed. He added that solutions to IFFs require collective efforts which cannot be led by Africa alone and stated that "The OECD stands ready to support Africa in its fight against illicit flows."
Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Gurria issued a joint statement calling on the Governments of African countries and the rest of the world to come together to strengthen efforts to foster even greater international cooperation to end the outflows which continue to harm all communities.
The statement underscored the resolve of both the Panel and the OECD to ensure that African countries can fully benefit from the ongoing international efforts at improving tax transparency. The Panel acknowledged the important role played by the work of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of information in bringing about financial transparency in tax matters.
The meeting with the OECD concluded with an agreed commitment between the OECD, AU and the ECA to "cooperate effectively in elaborating measures to track illicit financial flows." Present at the meeting were representatives of the Panel, Abdalla Hamdok, ECA Deputy Executive Secretary and Head of the Technical Committee of the HLP; and the Commissioner for Political Affairs at the AUC, Madame Aisha Abdullahi.
