Getting agreement on global action to prevent tax evasion was never going to be easy. In the event, the G8 summit communiqué has delivered more than a whimper, but far less than the big bang that many had hoped for.
Let’s start with the good news.
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On the 17-18 June, leaders from the G8 countries will gather at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. On the agenda are three key issues: advancing trade; ensuring tax compliance; promoting greater transparency.
In advance of the summit, ODI researchers will be responding to this agenda and providing an independent commentary on the Lough Erne accountability report, which reviews the G8's delivery against previous summit commitments.
What with talk of shell companies, beneficial ownership and financial regulation it’s tough to work out exactly what’s at stake in the G8 talks on tax and transparency. Throw in a vocabulary that comes with the dark arts of tax evasion – the ‘Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich’ problem is a personal favourite - and you’re heading into the near-impenetrable fog of summit negotiations.
The list of competing priorities for this year’s G8 summit was whittled down to three by David Cameron.
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The authors of the European Report on Development 2013 (ERD 2013) will present some of the findings of the report, which provides a contribution to the post-2015 debate, and will put them in perspective with the recent publication of the High-Level Panel Report.
It’s easy to be cynical about G8 summits. But, as David Cameron prepares to host the annual meeting of leaders from the world’s richest countries in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, the British government has a unique opportunity to provide leadership on issues at the heart of global poverty and inequality – and to restore the credibility of the G8 in global economic governance.
