OECD: Mauritius Signing Ceremony - Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

Opening remarks by Angel Gurría, 

Secretary-General, OECD

Paris, 23 June 2015

Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you this morning for the signing of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the most powerful single instrument for international tax co-operation. Mauritius becomes the 87th jurisdiction to join the club!

In Berlin last October, Mauritius joined 50 other jurisdictions in committing to implement automatic exchange of information and to begin sharing financial account information automatically by 2017 and 2018. With the Convention, Mauritius is moving forward to turn that commitment into a reality. The Convention will provide the legal basis for Mauritius to undertake tax information exchange, as well as other forms of cross-border cooperation, across its large network of trade and investment partners. 

Of course, these are just the latest steps Mauritius has taken towards best practice in tax transparency. Mauritius first became a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information when it was restructured in 2009. Mauritius was one of the first jurisdictions to undergo the Global Forum’s peer review process for EOI on request, and its combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 report was published in 2011. In November 2013, Mauritius was rated as ‘largely compliant’ – the second highest rating possible. It has demonstrated its ongoing dedication to improving its framework by addressing the Forum’s recommendations, making further changes to its tax information exchange regime, which were reflected in the OECD’s 2014 supplementary report. 

So, I would like to congratulate Mauritius on its ongoing commitment and progress on tax transparency. We look forward to continuing to work with you and support your implementation of automatic exchange in line with the global standard.

Thank you!