PRESS RELEASE:

STATE OF PLAY - 3RD FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

World leaders cant afford to fail at UN Finance for Development Summit

Unresolved issues heading into Addis Summit threaten the future of development

ADDIS ABABA (July 13, 2015) As decision makers arrive in Addis Ababa for the 3rd Financing for Development Conference (FfD), the unresolved issue of a global tax body to combat international tax

dodging and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) will be the key battleground and its failure would threaten the

summits success.

Governments have a chance this week to create an equitable body to tackle the problems of tax dodging and corporate opacity, said Pooja Rangaprasad of the Financial Transparency Coalition. But if the status quo remains, and standards continue to be set by the Organisation for Economic

Cooperation and Development (OECD), we will be stuck with an unjust system that cant solve the problem of illicit financial flows. The rest of the world will remain on the outside looking in.

The OECD currently sets new standards in multinational profit shifting and cross-border tax

dodging. However, the OECD is made up of just 34 rich countries. At this FfD Conference,

government representatives have a chance to create an intergovernmental tax body under the United

Nations that would include more than 100 developing countries that are currently excluded from the

decision making process.

African nations are at the epicentre of the crisis of Illicit Financial Flows, yet they are not even in the room when decisions are being made, said Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director of the Tax Justice Network-Africa. A global tax body is one important step in fixing this global problem.

The FfD Conference is the only global platform for countries to decide on how to finance development

effectively. A failure in Addis Ababa will threaten the Post-2015 agenda, climate change talks, and the

sustainable development goals to be decided later this year.

It makes absolutely no sense that rich country governments are ready to jeopardise the global tax system, as well as the Post-2015 and climate negotiations, just to make sure that poor countries continue

to be excluded from the decision making on global tax standards, said Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Justice Coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development.

The rising level of Illicit Financial Flows directly affects how much governments are able to fund the

drivers of development like education, health and infrastructure.

The poorest of people bear the brunt of this problem, yet the solutions are only made by the Paris-based OECD, said Joel Akhator Odigie of the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation.

Governments from across Latin America are united in calling for a political body on tax, said Jorge Coranado, President of Latin American Network on Debt Development and Rights. This call isnt

new, but now only a few blockers remain. We have been told its time for global action, we cant afford to fail.

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The following are in Addis Ababa. For additional information and/or interviews, kindly contact the persons below:

Kwesi Obeng, Tax Justice Network Africa, kobeng@taxjusticeafrica.net, +251 (0) 9 43 17 28 71

Julia Ravenscroft, Eurodad, jravenscroft@eurodad.org, +251 (0) 9 65 286 521

Christian Freymeyer, FTC, cfreymeyer@financialtransparency.org, +1 410 490 6850