FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

We welcome the commitments announced by the OECD today of six jurisdictions to move rapidly to eliminate their harmful tax practices. These commitments represent an important milestone in the effort to ensure that the global mobility of capital does not subvert national interests. They also make a contribution to preventing tax evasion and avoidance around the world. The jurisdictions have pledged changes to help ensure that their financial sectors will meet international standards of fairness, transparency and disclosure, including the exchange of information in the context of criminal and civil tax matters.

In today's global economy, it is vital that we put an end to international tax practices that encourage tax evasion and improper tax avoidance and that distort capital flows. We encourage all jurisdictions that have not previously made commitments to eliminate harmful tax practices to do so. In addition, we would like to reiterate our strong support for the OECD's Tax Competition Project more generally and look forward to the publication of its report next week.