Kazakhstan has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. As the 110th member of the Global Forum, it will participate in the peer review process which encourages all countries to adopt effective exchange of information in tax matters.

The OECD has updated Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, which sets out the international standard on exchange of information. The standard provides for information exchange on request, where the information is “foreseeably relevant” for the administration of the taxes of the requesting party, regardless of bank secrecy and a domestic tax interest.

Switzerland tops for the first time the OECD fixed broadband ranking, with 39.9 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, followed closely by the Netherlands (39.1) and Denmark (37.9). The OECD average is 25.6, according to new OECD statistics.

The OECD welcomed today a new model international tax agreement designed to improve cross-border tax compliance and boost transparency.

The 2012 edition of the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance will be published at 11.00 a.m. Paris time (09.00 GMT) on Tuesday 11 September 2012. Education at a Glance is the leading international compendium of comparable national statistics measuring the state of education worldwide.

Korea should reform its vocational education and training programmes to ensure that students leave college with the skills and expertise that companies need in today’s rapidly changing labour market, according to a new OECD report.

Denmark should build on the strengths of its vocational and educational training programme to ensure that young people enter the labour market with the skills companies need and to meet the national goal of having 60% of young people enter higher education by 2020, according to a new OECD report.

The global economy has slowed, with key European countries entering a recession that is now impacting worldwide, the OECD said in its latest Interim Economic Assessment.Interim Economic Assessment

Governments should increase investment in early childhood programmes and maintain reasonable costs for higher education in order to reduce inequality, boost social mobility and improve people’s employment prospects, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD will present its latest estimates of public support to agriculture during seminars in Brussels and Washington DC on 19 September 2012.