Keynote Address 1: Can the International Tax System be Stabilized?

Dr. Achim Pross, Deputy Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD, delivered Keynote Address 1 on whether the international tax system can be stabilised. Against a backdrop of narratives about fragmentation and unilateral measures, Dr. Pross offered an optimistic counter-narrative, walking participants through the building blocks of the international tax system — from tax transparency and transfer pricing to tax treaties, BEPS, and the Global Minimum Tax. His address covered the 2025 OECD Model Tax Convention update, ongoing work in tax treaty and transfer pricing, the latest on the tax policy agenda within and beyond MAP, and an overview of the January 2026 Pillar Two "side-by-side" package.