The following is extracted from the final communiqu?© of G8 Finance Ministers meeting today:

We, the G8 Finance Ministers, remain focused on addressing the ongoing global economic and financial crisis.

The crisis has revealed that there are some fundamental weaknesses in the global economy related to propriety, integrity and transparency. To address these issues in a comprehensive fashion, we agreed on the need to develop the Lecce Framework - a set of common principles and standards governing the conduct of international business and finance - which builds on existing initiatives and lays the foundation for a stable growth path over the long term (see the attached annex for details).

We are committed to working with our international partners to make progress with this initiative, with a view to reaching out to broader fora, including the G20 and beyond.

We discussed regulatory reform in our countries and at the international level. We are swiftly implementing the decisions taken at the London Summit and call on others to join our efforts to ensure global financial stability and an international level playing field.

We urge the relevant international institutions to closely monitor the implementation of these decisions and we also call on the FSB to develop a toolbox of measures to promote the adherence to prudential standards in cooperation with jurisdictions.

We welcome progress in negotiations of agreements on the exchange of information for tax purposes. We urge further progress in the implementation of the OECD standards and the involvement of the widest possible number of jurisdictions, including developing countries. It is also essential to develop an effective peer review mechanism to assess compliance with the same standards. This could be delivered by an expanded Global Forum.

We also look forward to an update on progress on the G20 agreement to tackle tax havens at the OECD Ministerial meeting.

We welcome FATF engagement with the G20 to fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We are also committed to working with FATF on improving international standards and their global implementation, including preparation for the next round of mutual evaluations, promoting international cooperation and reinforcing actions on jurisdictions with vulnerabilities.

FATF should report back by September on its progress in identifying uncooperative jurisdictions.

The commitment is continuing.

That’s good news.

Next, up the standard for information exchange compliance.