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 Parisbased 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