Ad Hoc Committee to Draft Terms of Reference for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation

Daniel Neur
Head of Tax Policy Unit
Ministry of Finance
United Nations, New York
July 29 2024

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
As we commence the final stretch of our task as an Ad hoc Intergovernmental Committee, Ghana looks forward to the constructive engagement of all delegations and the successful completion of the agenda for the session. We align fully with the statement of the Africa Group and make the following additional remarks in our national capacity.

The historic first session of this Committee in April and May, demonstrated our clear ambition for an inclusive and intergovernmental pathway for negotiating international tax cooperation. The discussions were open and transparent and enabled the participation of all Member States on an equal footing.

For Ghana, it was yet another important reminder that the dream of many developing countries to establish an international tax cooperation system that is fully inclusive and will deliver just or equitable outcomes to all is still alive and well. That is why we continue to emphasise that the United Nations is the appropriate forum to have these discussions.

Excellencies,
Ghana acknowledges the collective efforts of the Bureau for providing a concise and action-oriented zero draft that serves as a good basis for further discussions. We are pleased to see that the broad understanding among delegations on the key objectives, principles, and substantive elements to drive the draft terms of reference, when we met in April and May 2024, have been significantly included in the elements of the zero draft of the terms of reference circulated to Member States. We nonetheless recognise that despite the reflection of many high ambitions, improvements can still be made to the text.

We also welcome the focus of the Committee’s work on delivering on the commitments of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda which calls on the international community to ensure that “efforts in international tax cooperation should be universal in approach”. This process offers us a unique opportunity to converge around universal values and shared principles for setting out a common aspiration in international tax cooperation.

Ghana, therefore, stands with the Africa Group and the other States who make up the 125 States who voted for the Framework Convention and say that it is time things changed. It is time this current world economic system and the inequalities that deprive us of the needed revenue to fund our economies and consigns us to this cycle of one economic crisis after another ceased. An equitable international tax system will enable us to harness the revenue due from the millions of dollars that are taken out of our states day in and day out and lay the grounds for development and peace in our nations and the world at large.

There is no space to mince words this morning. We in the developing world cannot perpetually depend on the benevolence of others and thus need to generate our own revenues. As the discussions during the Preparatory Committee of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development has demonstrated, the needs of developing countries have grown and the resources traditionally available to support our development has diminished. Resources required to be released in our economies to support development therefore must be reliable.

While we have always valued the support of development partners, it is clear from the modern graveyards of our youth in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea that the support has not matched the scale of need.

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
As certain as are death and taxes are unavoidable incidents of life, we also have a responsibility to ensure that at the end of this session in August 2024, we have the draft ToRs and a unanimous report submitting the ToRs to the General Assembly. In 2025 negotiations must commence on the Framework Convention and the early protocols.

The world cannot afford delays in accomplishing this very important task of making international tax cooperation more effective and fully inclusive. We have an opportunity to write history; an opportunity to succeed where we have previously failed and a fresh opportunity to straighten what is crooked. We hold in our hands the future of international tax cooperation. Let us be careful of how we handle it.

It is our hope that the outcome of this process will ensure a more equitable and inclusive global tax system, far different from the current one, where all countries, regardless of size or economic power, have an equal seat at the table in setting the agenda for international tax cooperation. We further hope that the understanding and resilience that enabled us to come this far will carry us successfully to the end of this process.

I once again call on all Member States and stakeholders to work together and in a constructive manner to support the work of the Committee and to ensure the timely and successful completion of its work. We assure you of Ghana’s support and commitment to cooperate with all delegations for a successful outcome.

I will conclude with the words of, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group who said “. “If we can dream it, we can achieve it.”

We have dreamed it. Its time for us to work together to achieve the important task of developing the ToRs.

Thank you for your attention.