The government of the British Virgin Islands has signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Ireland and China. BVI premier and minister of finance Ralph O'Neal signed the agreement in London with the ambassador of Ireland, Bobby McDonagh. For China the agreement was signed by deputy commissioner of the state administration of China, Qian Guanlin. They are the 16th and 17th such agreements the BVI has signed. The TIEA is based on a model agreement developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It allows the signing parties to request information from each other that is relevant to a tax investigation. Such information would typically relate to bank accounts or the beneficial ownership of companies or trusts. Ireland's agreement is the 10th of its kind for the country. Under the guidelines provided by the OECD and the new international tax standard emanating from the G-20 summit in April this year, jurisdictions are required to sign at least 12 TIEAs.