Leaders of the G8 nations meeting in the North today signed up today to a declaration designed to tackle tax evasion and promote free trade around the world.
The Lough Erne Declaration – signed by the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia – vows to “fight the scourge of tax evasion” by ensuring automatic exchange of tax information and changing the rules to stop multinational companies shifting profits across borders to avoid paying their fair share.
But the 10-point document, released after two days of talks at Lough Erne, falls short of the demands of anti-poverty campaigners, who want the developing world included in the new arrangements from the start and have called for tax information to be made available to all on public registers.
The declaration says only that developing countries “should have the information and capacity to collect the taxes owed them”, rather than guaranteeing them automatic access to the information.
And it says only that “tax collectors and law enforcers” should have access to information about the ultimate owners of companies, leaving it to individual G8 countries to decide whether to make the information public.
The White House said it would leave the decision to individual US states, while British Chancellor George Osborne said the UK was “open” to the idea of public registers and is consulting on the issue.
G& leaders also agreed a joint position on Syria that could pave the way for fresh peace talks in Geneva.
But after resistance from Russia, the statement makes no reference to the future of President Bashar Assad, saying only that a transitional government must be formed “by mutual consent” between the different sides of Syrian society.
The statement, released at the end of the two-day Lough Erne summit, also makes clear that Syria’s military and security forces will be allowed to remain intact following a transition of power.
The provision was being seen as a signal to Assad’s senior officers that there may be a future for them in a democratic Syria if they act now to eject the president.
Tensions over Syria have dominated the G8 gathering, which took place in the wake of an announcement by Barack Obama that the US was ready to arm the rebels seeking to oust Assad, despite bitter opposition from Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
In a high-stakes discussion over dinner last night, Mr Putin agreed to sign up to detailed language about the future governance arrangements for Syria, but refused to endorse any statement that the G8 saw no place for Assad in it.