European Union economic commissioner Paoloa Gentiloni said he was "pretty optimistic" that G20 finance ministers meeting in Venice on Friday and Saturday could rally the world's top economies behind a global plan to tax multinationals more fairly.
"I'm pretty optimistic that an agreement will be reached at the G20 for global minimum tax on multinationals," Gentiloni told Bloomberg TV.
"All G20 members have agreed at OECD level to have a new, fairer taxation system," he said.
Gentiloni was referring to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development members' backing on 1 July alongside India and China for a framework for global tax reform.
"The big multinationals must pay taxes where they make profits and we must avoid the race to the bottom, tax havens, and must have effective minimum taxation everywhere," Gentiloni said.
"I think we are close and we will do our best in Europe too, to translate this agreement into practice in the coming months," he added.
Negotiations continue behind the scenes to persuade low-tax EU countries such as Hungary, Ireland and Estonia, who declined to sign up to the OECD deal to tax global companies at a rate of at least 15 percent.
