REGULATION of tax havens and illicit financial flows would be the key
to financing the global development framework beyond 2015.
This
was stated in a communique from the meeting of the High‐Level Panel (HLP) of
Eminent Persons on the Post‐2015 Development Agenda held in Bali, Indonesia
between March 25 and March 27, 2013.
Following discussions on how to build a global partnership and means of
implementation for the development agenda, the communiqué stated that other
measures to financing the global development framework would be enhanced
knowledge sharing, capacity building, technology transfers, data collection and
trade. But particularly important would be the regulation of tax havens and
illicit financial flows.
Last
year UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had announced the setting up of the High
Level Panel to advise on the global development framework beyond 2015, the
target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Panel is co-chaired
by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf of Liberia, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom. It
also includes leaders from civil society, private sector and government. A draft
report containing the recommendations of the High Level Panel would be submitted
to the Secretary General in May 2013. The work of the Panel reflects new
development challenges while also drawing on experience gained in implementing
the MDGs, both in terms of results achieved and areas for
improvement.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based program of the
Centre for International Policy, welcomed the recommendations of the High Level
Panel, released on Wednesday. GFI Director Raymond Baker stated that tax haven
secrecy had drained developing countries of US$859 billion in illicit financial
outflows in 2010, ten times more than the US$88 billion they received in
official development assistance. Nearly US$1 trillion could have been used to
invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure in the world’s poorest
countries.
“There appears to be serious movement by a number of world leaders to
crack down on illicit financial flows as we move forward,” noted Baker. “The
focus should now be on making sure that world leaders follow through with their
commitments.”
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