OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría welcomed Hungary’s steps to strengthen international tax co-operation after it became the 61st signatory to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Hungary’s Minister of State for Taxation and Financial Policy Affairs Orbán Gábor signed the Convention during a ceremony at the OECD in Paris.

Mr Gurría welcomed Hungary’s recent steps toward greater tax transparency. "Today’s signing is an important signal that Hungary is seriously committed to the international fight against offshore tax avoidance and evasion," he said.

Mr. Gurría noted that the rapid increase in signatories to the Convention reflects the growing levels of international support for exchange of information on request.

Hungary’s signing comes one week before the 21-22 November meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in Jakarta, Indonesia, at which a number of additional countries and jurisdictions are expected to sign the Convention.