New Zealand to share disaster experience with Asia Development Bank

New Zealand Revenue Minister Todd McClay will be sharing New Zealand's experience in recovering from natural disasters at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Astana, Kazakhstan. McClay said in a statement before leaving Thursday that the ADB annual meeting, which runs from May 2 to 5 this year, was New Zealand's major annual engagement with the ADB. New Zealand contributed to the bank's ordinary capital reserves and was a regional donor country to the Asian Development Fund, which the ADB used for concessional lending programs and additional funding for other projects that New Zealand partnered with the ADB, particularly around the Pacific. McClay said he would hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with ADB President Takehiko Nakao, Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Steven Ciobo, and the head of the Chinese delegation. "I have also been invited to participate in a session around disaster resilience in the Asia-Pacific region and share New Zealand's experiences in dealing with our recent natural disasters, " he said. New Zealand is frequently hit by storms and earthquakes, and a quake in the second city of Christchurch killed 185 people in February 2011. McClay would go on to Paris to attend the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Ministerial Council meeting and meet with Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration, to discuss corporate base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and information exchange issues. "BEPS and the automatic exchange of information are key global tax issues that require a high degree of international cooperation and understanding. The OECD is at the forefront in dealing with these issues, so meeting with Mr. Saint-Amans will be invaluable," said McClay.