Concluding Coordination, Management Session, Economic and Social Council Approves Texts on Tax Matters, Least Developed Countries

The Economic and Social Council concluded its coordination and management session this afternoon with the adoption of a draft decision on international cooperation in tax matters and a draft resolution on the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020.

The Council adopted, without a vote, a draft resolution on the “Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020” (document E/2015/L.23), as orally revised.

By its terms, the Council took note of the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 (document A/70/83-E/2015/75).  It noted with great concern the decline in the share of official development assistance (ODA) to the least developed countries, and welcomed the commitment of the development partners to reverse that decline.

It recalled the commitment, contained in the Istanbul Programme of Action, that donor countries should review their ODA commitments in 2015 and consider further enhancing the resources for the least developed countries.

The Council further called upon the least developed countries, their development partners, the United Nations system and all other actors to further intensify their efforts to fully and effectively implement, in a coordinated, coherent and expeditious manner, the commitments made in the Istanbul Programme of Action in its eight priority areas — productive capacity; agriculture, food security and rural development; trade; commodities; human and social development; multiple crises and other emerging challenges; mobilizing financial resources for development and capacity-building; and good governance at all levels.

Further by the text, the Council welcomed the decision of the General Assembly to hold the comprehensive high-level mid-term review of the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action in Antalya, Turkey, for a period of three days in June 2016 and requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Council a progress report on the implementation of the Programme of Action at its substantive session of 2016.

Taking the floor following the adoption of that text, the representative of Benin, speaking on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries, expressed the good will and resolve of the Group to move forward.  However, he underscored the many challenges they faced and emphasized that such challenges should be taken into account in all intergovernmental processes.  Development partners must honour their commitments.  “We need the support of all,” he stressed.

On tax matters, the Council adopted, without a vote, a draft decision orally presented by the representative of South Africa on the “Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters”.  By that text, the Council took note of the report of the Committee on its tenth session (document E/2014/45) as well as of the report of the Secretary-General on further strengthening the work of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (document E/2015/51).

That decision had replaced a draft resolution that had been withdrawn this afternoon by its sponsor, South Africa.  Taking the floor prior to the adoption, the representative of South Africa, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said that while there was increasing recognition of the importance of taxation in development, a global intergovernmental forum for those matters was still lacking.  The creation of an intergovernmental subsidiary body of the Council would go a long way to strengthen international cooperation in tax matters.

In addition, he said, the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters should be further strengthened and its work better integrated into that of the Council.  At the Third International Conference on Financing for Development held in Addis Ababa last week, high-level speakers had stressed the need for further cooperation on tax matters in order to finance development, he said.  He urged all countries and other actors interested in contributing to the work of the Committee to do so on a voluntary basis.

The representative of the European Union took the floor to support the adoption of the decision.  The working methods leading to the drafting of the decision, however, had been less than optimal, with very little time for delegations to consider the text, he said.

The Economic and Social Council will reconvene tomorrow, 24 July, at 10:00 a.m. to elect the President and Vice-Presidents for its 2016 session.