 Good morning everyone. Is that on? That is on. Thank you very much. Good to see you all bright and early. Glad you could join us again today for what no doubt will be another very interesting day. We've got panels on wildlife trafficking and then several country focused panels. So it's a good way to follow up from what we were discussing. Yesterday put sort of the general overview discussion into very specific things and how what the data show and from a perspective of wildlife trafficking what that looks like and the flows of funds do that type of activity. But at the outset we're going to hear from Gene Ross, program officer from Ford Foundation, and to introduce Gene I want to introduce Huguette LaBelle. No I should leave this like this because Gene is taller than I am. Good morning everyone and great to have you back with us. I think the the discourse around the world is certainly that in terms of developing countries one needs to have greater resource mobilization domestically, that there's got to be much more ODA, greater generosity of share what we all have with each other, returning of stolen assets, but I think we all know that none of the above will happen very much unless we deal with illicit financial flows. But beyond that that's that's a if you say it fast you know it it it works but there's a lot of word behind it and we also know that governments as I used to say matters I don't say that anymore. I see it's essential unless we have the kind of governance in our governments around the world in the private sector in in in all institutions we will be left behind in a big way and this is why it's great this morning to have Gene Ross with us and if I were to say all that she has done in her life she will never have time to speak but I would just like to highlight some of what she has done so that you better understand where she's coming from. If you talk of tax and budget this is a person who's really dedicated her life amongst other things of course but to to this big area with the service employees international union in Washington a few years ago uh but the one that I find very uh interesting uh has been uh to serve as staff to the California state assembly uh's revenue and taxation committee and that must have been fascinating in terms of developing legislation and the like um but also I think the other aspect of our past experience which I think is tremendous is the California budget project and there's a lot involved in that also um you know this was the leading state budget and policy organization and has done tremendous work um in that in that state which has had spillover effect in other parts of the country but now is why she's here even uh more and uh this is as a program officer in the promoting transparency effective and accountable government initiative at the Ford Foundation and Jean we're very pleased to have you with us this morning welcome thank you and thank you for that kind introduction I feel like I'm in a room full of kindred spirits having spent uh most of my life working on tax policy there's not a lot of people who uh you can sit at dinner or in a room like this who who enjoy some of the nuances of things like tax havens and aggressive tax sheltering and the like so it's really great to be here um and I'd like to also thank you for the kind words towards the Ford Foundation and I feel a little bit sheepish because they really should all go to uh my colleague former colleague Leonardo Berlimacchi who had the foresight to support this body of work a number of years ago and to really help nurture it and be the thought partner that helped uh bring it to fruition and you'll hear from him later today so I feel like I'm sort of taking a little bit of the credit for really what was the work that he helped to uh get off the ground I'd like to in a fairly short period of time do two things first to talk a little bit about substance taking off from yesterday's panel and then I was asked to speak a little bit about where Ford is at and where this set of issues falls into our work going forward uh first it's a really interesting week to be talking about this set of issues in case you didn't notice the pope is in town and I think you know hopefully we'll have something to say about the broader issues of economic justice and inequality that these issues are so closely linked to across town today the economist Gabriel Zuckman is releasing a new book on tax havens and the economic implications there of which I think probably again this is a room full of people who would find that to be a really good vacation read so um it's you know it would it would advise you all to look for that and I think that's the good news part of this story I think the not so good news as I was reading on the train coming down yesterday um is the U.S. decided to delay the the full implementation of the fat corrals for U.S. controlled financials this week and I think you know this really points to the fact that there is a lot of opportunity right now but we're not out of the woods and there's a lot left to do so on on to the substance I I read in the report I thought the explanation of the origin of the term illicit financial flows was really interesting because I do believe that words matter and how you frame an issue at the outset can open doors close doors and help focus attention in a way that also drives to the policy solutions at the end of the day I think the need to capture language through language monies that are not necessarily illegal fall into a gray area and that in some cases may actually be legally sanctioned is a tough challenge to do it's I think how you parse out the different types of flows that we're looking at also matters because what the problem is will have tremendous implications for how you go about solving it and I think again you know how we characterize what leads to different types of flows and the magnitude of those can help develop a policy rationale for addressing it which is at the end of the day is what really matters I'd offer a three-part scheme as part of looking at the origins of the funds that we're talking about in their implications for developing economies first the funds that are clearly illegal and we spent a lot of time some great stories from our special agent friends yesterday afternoon I thought that was you know really interesting it grabs you know the attention and while those are certainly tough to combat and I think we all understand the capacity issues the public will issues they're tough you know we know what those are and they and we basically know how to solve them it really is a matter of the systems and the public will that's willing to address and be tough and and go after people who are engaged in what's clearly illegal activity that doesn't make it easy but it certainly I think is something that we know what to do the second category is that gray area there you know what I would call aggressive tax sheltering it certainly it's within the area of transfer pricing which certainly the people who taught me tax always said is you know an art not a science I think that's particularly true you know as the economy changes and we're not talking just about widgets but how you price things where it really is an incredibly difficult challenge how do you value intangible assets and the like and I think that is an area that is to me one of the toughest challenges and where governments in the developed world as well as in the developing world are clearly outgunned by the firms that see tremendous opportunities for pushing the limits of what may or may not be legal we need to understand these types of flows and these types of transactions better we need to build the capacity of certainly customs we heard a lot yesterday and that but also sort of tax administration around the world and particularly in developing countries if we want to understand where the money is and how to bring it out of the darkness and out of the light the solutions to this are certainly through greater financial transparency something that all of you in this room have had a part in advancing we need stronger domestic laws we also need global norms and standards and I think you get I think it was you yesterday that talked about the need to you know sort of bring the world around together otherwise we'll just push that questionable activity from countries with strong regimes into those that don't have strong laws and standards that are willing to serve as a magnet for that type of activity the third category and it's one and I think this gets to the illicit financial flows I always describe as sort of the illicit financial flows and I think that in many cases is where a lot of the money again both in the developing world as well as the developed world and that's through countries that have weak norms weak laws weak standards and also probably in many cases weak enforcement that is you know countries who are willing to serve as tax statements states within the united states that are willing to serve as tax havens and the like and there we have I think first and foremost a public will issue and one that's about building that public support for stronger laws that are willing to make sure that governments and the people of countries across the globe get what they deserve from economic activity that occurs within their border like to move quickly now to talk a little bit about the Ford Foundation and I feel like everybody who has ever had a relationship with the foundation has been watching to see what our new strategy is in case you're one of those we are in the midst of a major reevaluation and strategic planning process which we anticipate completing at the end of this year I think I speak for all of the staff of the foundation to say that we are thrilled about the focus on inequality and using inequality and how to address it as an organizing principle for all of the work that we do and inequality in a way that is very broadly defined I always come at things from the economic perspective so of course that's sort of where I immediately gravitate to but the foundation in its breadth both in terms of issues and around the globe look not only at economic inequality political inequality cultural inequality and we'll be looking through our programming to find ways that are both deep within the countries in which we work but that also re-engage in the global arena to find ways to hopefully begin to address the tremendous widening of inequality that we have seen across many dimensions and I think you know from that perspective I certainly am looking forward to hearing what the Pope has to say the next couple of days as well that process will hopefully be completed later this year and the details will be communicated through our social media our blog and the like I can tell you that we will be looking at a strategy in this area that does put government at the center and looks at the role that governments can should and must play as agents for addressing inequality both you know in terms that that will mean addressing the public will and public trust issues around which illicit financial flows are so important to begin giving people the confidence that their public officials do act with integrity and rooting out corruption where it occurs it'll be looking to build the capacity of governments within country and building the systems across countries that give governments the ability that they need the data the transparency the standards to act in the interest of all of their people including the most marginalized we will be looking at public resources and I think you know you will see an understanding that public resources financial resources through tax flows and the like do matter they are a tool both directly for affecting the level of equality or inequality in a country and can be used on the spending side of the ledger to address inequality as well so we're all extremely excited we're looking forward to moving forward to rolling out our new strategy into working with our partners across the globe to implement it and look forward to continuing in dialogue with all of you about how best to do that and again thank you for inviting me this morning thank you very much gene appreciate those comments and brief peek into how forward is looking at these issues in a new way and looking ahead and this seems to be a new nexus of ideas around good governance and new rules of the road in the context of domestic resources and and how they intersect with inequality so we're at a very interesting time indeed