White House Fact Sheet Brisbane G-20 Summit (11/18/14)

The White House has posted a Fact Sheet on the G-20 Brisbane Summit, here.

The parts relevant to this blog are (emphasis supplied by JAT):

The G-20 is the world’s premier forum for economic policy cooperation – where Leaders representing economies generating 85 percent of global GDP assemble around the table to promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth and to address urgent global economic challenges. 

The Brisbane G-20 Summit – the eighth that President Obama has attended since taking office – focused on growth and jobs.  With the global economic recovery still fragile, G-20 Leaders sent a clear signal of their commitment to take decisive steps, recognizing that the global economy is being held back by a shortfall in demand.  G-20 Leaders announced a Brisbane Action Plan of individual country commitments and collective actions that could increase the G-20’s combined output by 2.1 percent or more over the next five years. 

Leaders agreed on a number of specific steps to strengthen the resilience of the global economy and to address challenges such as climate change.  These include new initiatives on infrastructure investment, female labor force participation, combating corruption, and remittances.  Leaders also issued a separate statement about Ebola and global health security.  

Among the most significant agreements were: 

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• principles that would help prevent the abuse of anonymous shell companies to facilitate illicit financial flows stemming from corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering 

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Fighting corruption 

• The G-20 has taken significant steps over the last four years to fight the scourge of corruption in our own countries and overseas.  In Brisbane, Leaders adopted a two-year plan to strengthen enforcement, enhance transparency, and facilitate the recovery of assets stolen by corrupt officials.  This includes meaningful steps to ensure that corrupt actors cannot exploit our financial and legal systems.  The G-20 also reached a significant agreement to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies by endorsing implementation of “Beneficial Ownership” principles.  The G-20 will work to ensure that corrupt actors can no longer use these shell companies to evade taxes or launder the proceeds of their crimes, and the Administration has proposed legislation to end the use of anonymous shell companies in the United States.

JAT Comment:  Some readers have commented on this blog that the U.S. was hypocritical in criticizing other jurisdictions permitting anonymous shell companies, which permit corrupt official and other law violators (including tax violators) to hide their assets.