Another country has signed up to a global convention on mutual assistance in tax matters.

El Salvador has signed a global convention through which jurisdictions assist each other on tax issues to prevent evasion and other offenses, becoming the 86th signatory to such an arrangement.

El Salvador’s Ambassador to France, Francisco Galindo Vélez, signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in the presence of Carlos Cáceres, El Salvador’s minister for finance.

The central American country is the eighth such country and the third member of the Central American Common Market - after Costa Rica and Guatemala - to join the Convention, according to a statement by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The move “sends yet another strong message to the international community about El Salvador’s commitment to fighting international tax avoidance and evasion by increasing transparency”, according to OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria.

The convention includes administrative assistance between tax authorities for information exchange on request, automatic exchange of information, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in the collection of tax debts.

El Salvador became a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in 2011. El Salvador’s Phase 1 peer review report, which demonstrates their high level of commitment to the international standard for tax transparency and exchange of information, was published in March 2015.