German Finance Minister Schultz said the OECD tax treaty marked “great progress” Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that the agreement reached by 130 countries to support the lowest tax for global companies marked the biggest breakthrough in global taxation in decades.

Soon after the negotiation led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reached an agreement, Schultz told reporters during his visit to Washington: “The race to the bottom of the competition has ended.”

He said that the details are still to be finalized, but the agreement marks “great progress” and will allow countries to increase investment in infrastructure and efforts to combat climate change.

Schultz said that these 130 countries accounted for 90% of global GDP, reflecting the tremendous efforts made by Germany and other countries to ensure fair tax collection by large technology companies such as Amazon (NASDAQ:).

He stated that the goal is to ensure that financial officials from the G-20 countries approve the plan when they meet in Venice from July 9 to 10, after the advanced economies of the G7 took similar measures in London last month.

“This is the biggest progress we have made in international taxation in 10, 20, and 30 years,” he said. “This is a very big breakthrough, and it will change everything.”

Schultz said the agreement will help countries ensure that they have more funds to pay for “important priorities,” such as infrastructure, climate change, and social spending needs.