Commonwealth countries and the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed on Tuesday to join forces to fight tax evasion and money laundering.
After two days of tense meetings in Bridgetown, the parties created a joint task force to seek mutually satisfactory ways to achieve these goals.
But the group must hasten its efforts to present a concrete agreement at the OECD conference in Tokyo February 15 and 16, said Sir Owen Arthur, the Prime Minister of Barbados.
To that end, a meeting will be held in London in late January and an initial report will be released prior to the Tokyo conference.

Last June, the OECD published a list of 35 countries and territories it denounced as tax havens suspected of aiding tax evaders and money launderers through fiscal policies.
The countries, none of them members of the OECD, were threatened with sanctions and presented with a schedule of reforms that they were asked to sign against their vociferous dissent. But they will not have to provide their signatures if the task force succeeds in its mission.
The OECD measures are part of a larger war on tax evasion and money laundering, which, it says, pose a threat to global financial health and cause a staggering loss in tax revenues.
Bureau Report