The 17th Plenary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Information Sharing was held in Asunción (Paraguay) on November 26-29, 2024. This meeting, sponsored by the Government of Paraguay and the Global Forum, was attended by more than 110 country representatives from international organizations and NGOs, among others.

This meeting allowed participants to review the achievements of the Global Forum in its 15-year history, discuss country progress on the transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes agenda, and consider new initiatives and prospects for the future.

The CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio Verdi, participated in a panel, together with Mr. Edward Kieswetter of South Africa, Mr. Oscar Orué of Paraguay and Mr. Rafayel Gevorgyan of Armenia, where the challenges and needs of the regions that make up the Global Forum were discussed.

Within the framework of this activity, CIAT, together with its regional partners and representatives of Latin American tax administrations, participated in the meeting of the Punta del Este Declaration, held on November 25, which presented and  discussed the progress made by the countries of the region in the effective use of exchange of information tools and the use of the information exchanged. In addition, new countries joined the initiative for the broad use of information.

On November 29, during the meeting with observers and other technical partners of the Global Forum, the CIAT’s Director of International Cooperation and Taxation, Mr. Gonzalo Arias, presented CIAT’s initiatives to strengthen the countries’ capacities in the use of international cooperation instruments and optimal use of information. He Highlighted, among others, the CIAT course on Information Exchange, the Manual on Tax Noncompliance Risk Management, the Manual on Control of Abusive International Tax Planning, the Database of Transnational Tax Base Erosion Cases, the Open Source Information (DIP) Initiative, the Guide on Trusts and Complex Structures, and the Electronic Invoice Anomaly Detector.

Finally, on the same day, 29th , during the meeting on Regional Initiatives, the CIAT Executive Secretariat stressed the importance of allocating resources equitably among the different regions, in order to ensure a consistent development of the countries’ capacities to address the challenges related to transparency and information exchange. This is because the most significant tax evasion, avoidance and fraud are committed by individuals with a worldwide reach.

The CIAT Executive Secretariat congratulates the Paraguayan authorities for the excellent organization of this important event and the warmth with which they received us, and the Global Forum for its progress and the success of the meeting.