13/03/2025 – On 11 March 2025, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, the Hon. Prof. Mthuli Ncube, endorsed the Yaoundé Declaration, adding his country’s voice to this important regional initiative for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
Originally signed by four countries in November 2017, the Yaoundé Declaration encouraged the African Union to begin a high-level discussion on tax co-operation, the fight against illicit financial flows and their link to domestic resource mobilisation. Less than ten years later, with Zimbabwe’s support, 34 African ministers of Finance and the African Union Commission now back the Declaration.
Launched in 2014 with the objective to unlock the potential of tax transparency and exchange of information for Africa, the Africa Initiative has included significant engagement at ministerial level to ensure political buy-in and sustained momentum, as reflected by the growing support for the Yaoundé Declaration. These joint efforts aim at ensuring that African countries take ownership of the tax transparency agenda and promote it to serve the continent’s interests. To this end, the annual Tax Transparency in Africa report highlights progress made and points to remaining challenges.
The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement the standard on transparency and exchange of information on request and the standards on automatic exchange of information. These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.
For more information, please contact gftaxcooperation@oecd.org.
