01/10/2012 - Pakistan has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. As the 111th member of the Global Forum, it will participate in the peer review process which encourages all countries to adopt effective exchange of information in tax matters.

“We are happy to welcome Pakistan as a new Global Forum member”, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría “Pakistan will now be among the jurisdictions that are directly involved in the international effort to make tax systems worldwide transparent and fair to all, and I look forward to strengthening our mutual cooperation.”

The Global Forum’s aim is to ensure that all jurisdictions adhere to the same high standard of international cooperation in tax matters and Governments come together to fight and prevent tax evasion. Membership of the Global Forum has gradually grown, which highlights the importance of the work being carried out by it over the last few years.  

Consistently supported by G-20 leaders, the Global Forum has, since 2010, published 79 peer review reports containing 495 recommendations to help jurisdictions improve their cooperation in tax matters. As a result, more than half of the countries reviewed have already introduced or proposed changes to their laws. The Global Forum recently launched Phase 2 of its review process, which will examine countries’ effectiveness of exchange of information practices.

The next meeting of the Global Forum will be held on 26-27 October 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Read more on Pakistan on the EOI Portal: http://www.eoi-tax.org/jurisdictions/PK

For further information, journalists should contact Pascal Saint-Amans, Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at +33 1 45 24 91 08 / Monica Bhatia, Head of the Global Forum Secretariat at + 33 1 45 24 97 46.