The Financing for Development Office (FfDO) of UN-DESA organized a seminar on “International Tax Cooperation for Financing of Sustainable Development and the Role of the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries”. The seminar addressed the relationship between international tax cooperation, including the role of bilateral double tax treaties and the double tax treaty models, and the financing for sustainable development. In this context, the main aspects of the UN Model and its recent update were reviewed in detail. Moreover, the most significant similarities and divergences between the UN Model and the OECD Model were discussed, particularly as they related to the issue of to what extent a country should forego, under bilateral tax treaties, taxing rights, which would be otherwise available to it under domestic law, with a view to avoiding double taxation and encouraging investments. Finally, in view of the growing international concerns that Governments lose substantial tax revenue because of business planning schemes aimed at eroding the taxable base and/or shifting profits to locations where they are subject to favourable tax treatment, the relationship between tax treaties and these planning strategies was addressed.