Vadym Melnyk took part in an online meeting with representatives of the OECD and the relevant Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) program.

The Director of ESBU informed his international colleagues about the stages of the Bureau's formation, the results of its work and the challenges it currently faces.

Methodological support, development of regulatory and international treaty framework are very relevant and important, because right now the foundation of a new body is actually being built.

"In order to defeat the russian occupiers, we must beat them not only with weapons, but also economically. ESBU has a decisive role in this direction. The main global task of the Bureau is to ensure the comprehensive economic security of our state. Currently, we have focused our efforts on finding and seizing assets of russia and belarus, as well as on combating the shadow sector of the economy. It is to ensure systematic work that we need help in building a powerful think tank. Continuous training, implementation of international methods, use of knowledge in practice, improvement of the system of collecting and evaluating evidence will help to more effectively investigate crimes in the economic sphere, "said Vadym Melnyk.

Given the interrelationship between tax and other financial crimes, the implementation of the OECD's continuous workflow diagnostics model to identify weaknesses and effectively address shortcomings in real time will improve the capacity to combat tax crimes and strengthen the Bureau's institutional capacity.

As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed on cooperation and gradual implementation of international experience in practice, which will be enshrined in the relevant work program.

In the long run, cooperation under the TIWB program for criminal investigations will create a strong methodological basis for analytical work, which will improve the overall investment climate in the country, promote the culture of honest taxpayers.

“The whole business must work honestly, transparently and pay taxes on time. The task of all competent bodies is to minimize the shadow sector of the economy and keep it at the lowest, safest level for the state. A strong economy is the key to Ukraine's strong national security, ” the Director of the Bureau concluded.

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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that brings together the 38 most economically developed countries that recognize the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. The OECD also actively cooperates with non-member countries (including Ukraine) in the framework of specialized programs, international events, etc. The aim of the TIWB Initiative is to enable the exchange of knowledge and skills to the competent authorities of developing countries through a targeted real-time learning approach in areas such as tax crimes, risk assessment, investigative audit techniques and more.

On June 9, 2022, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the opening of the regional office of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Kyiv.

The OECD has decided to suspend russia's accession process.