The reason why Wolfgang Schäuble has found time to write this article is the urgency to combat tax evasion. He wants to sell the concept of "fair taxation" and shows ordinary people that rich individuals and corporations have to carry their fair share of the tax burden. He also wants to be seen as the architect of an agreement, that commits the signatories to introduce automatic exchange of taxpayer information from 2018.

Yet the accord, a brainchild of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for purposes, has only been signed by 51 nations. The Forum has currently 123 members, out of 193 member states of the United Nations. Switzerland, known for its bank secrecy, and the US, which puersues its own path of fighting international evasion - the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, were absent from the meeting, although they are members.

As Britain and Germany were the two initiators of cracking down on tax evasion and tax fraud, George Osborne, the chancellor of the British Exchequer, was pleased with the relative speed with which the agreement had been negotiated and signed. Now the finance ministers hope to cash in billions in otherwise unpaid taxes, which could be a boon to public finances. Yet more efforts would be required to ensure that large multinational companies actually pay taxes in countries where they take in revenue.

The OECD urges governments in developing countries to improve their governance and regulations, so that they can clamp down on the black economy. They lose about $1 trillion a year, as a result of the flow of illicit assets, that leave countries through money laundering, tax evasion and bribery.

Schäuble is working on developing a single global standard on automatic exchange of information, which will enable tax authorities to share information with their foreign counterparts automatically, without being asked. No doubt the OECD, the G8 and G20 countries are eager to cooperate.

Whether the others would "agree on uniform international standards in order to achieve fair international tax competition" remains to be seen. It's unclear if China and Russia would support the idea, although they have seen massive capital flight from their countries in recent years. They may deem such a legal framework an intrusion into their sovereignty.