African members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have agreed to intensify their efforts to fight tax evasion and stem illicit financial flows from Africa.

The members, who met on 25-26 July 2018 in Accra, Ghana, said more cross-border collaboration and exchanges of information would help their efforts.

Standards and ownership

Delegates focused on ways to implement international standards that would address a number of the recommendations made by the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)’s High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.

They also backed the AU’s efforts to advance the transparency agenda in Africa and highlighted the importance of beneficial ownership registers.

The delegates also backed the establishment of automatic information exchange mechanisms and called for the abolishment of bank secrecy.

Transparency and collaboration

Recommendations included the establishment of collaborative frameworks within which organisations concerned with revenue collection can best serve Africa’s interests.

Delegates also agreed to reflect the progress they achieve in improving tax transparency – including progress made in meeting individual country targets – in an annual report.

Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News