The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the 2025 Global Forum Capacity Building Report on 6 March 2025.
This report highlights the record-breaking capacity-building and outreach activities carried out by the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) in 2024 and their impact for member jurisdictions. This crucial work supports the global implementation of the tax transparency standards (exchange of information on request and automatic exchange of information) in the fight against tax evasion and other illicit financial flows.
The report notes how developing countries reported close to 80% of the near EUR 4 billion additional revenue (tax, interest and penalties) identified by Global Forum members in 2023 in the context of the implementation and use of the tax transparency standards, with unprecedented revenues registered in Africa.
These impressive figures are the result of several years of awareness-raising and capacity-building efforts to support the implementation of the standards and foster effective and lasting administrative cooperation between jurisdictions.
“Measuring the concrete results in terms of domestic resource mobilisation and contributing to the fight against illicit financial flows is widely showcased in this year’s report, together with a variety of learning opportunities that have been developed during 2024. I am convinced that the increased collaboration that develops through the capacity-building programme benefits the Global Forum as an institution greatly,” said Gaël Perraud, Chair of the Global Forum.
Through regional initiatives tailored to the needs and challenges faced by Global Forum members, bilateral technical support, and the now established flagship programmes Train the Trainer and Women Leaders in Tax Transparency, the Secretariat’s multipronged efforts further facilitated progress and delivered concrete benefits for member jurisdictions across the globe.
Key achievements and developments include:
- In 2024, an all-time high of 100 jurisdictions received bilateral technical support from the Secretariat, including 79 developing countries that benefited from more extensive support.
- A record 11,532 officials were trained in 2024 through events led by the Secretariat (5,728 officials), e-learning courses (2,790 officials), and local trainings led by Train the Trainer programme laureates (3,014 officials).
- 2 new jurisdictions (Algeria and Trinidad and Tobago) participated to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters by the end of 2024, bringing the total number of developing countries participating to the most complete multilateral instrument for administrative co-operation between tax authorities (149 participating jurisdictions) to 73.
- 4 new jurisdictions (Cameroon, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Senegal) committed to starting automatic exchange of financial accounts information by a specific date in 2024, and 3 jurisdictions (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) started their first reciprocal exchanges.
- 14 developing countries committed to starting automatic exchange of information on Crypto-asset transactions by 2027 or 2028.
- At least 3 200 requests for information were sent by developing countries to support their cross-border investigations in 2023 (up 18% from 2 700 in 2022).
- Zambia joined the Global Forum in 2024, as its 171st member and 39th African member.
The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement the standard on transparency and exchange of information on request (EOIR) and the standards on automatic exchange of information (AEOI).
These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.
