The Third Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) themed “Enhancing Tax Administration Capacity Building in the Post-Pandemic Era” was held between 19-21 September, 2022. Nearly 300 delegates, including heads of Ministry of Finance and Tax Authority from 40 jurisdictions and representatives from 12 international organizations, attended this event on site or online.(Click to see details:https://www.britacom.org/news/3rdOnlineMeeting/)

 

The third BRITACOF was hosted by the General Directorate of Taxes of Algeria, aiming to build a growth-friendly tax environment, enhance tax administration capacity building in the post-pandemic era, promote tax administration in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) jurisdictions, and facilitate global economic recovery with taxation functions.

 

 

The Forum is comprised of the Council Meetings and the Plenary Session. The Council Meetings, held on the first and last day of the Forum, were presided over by Mr. Wang Daoshu, Executive Secretary of the BRITACOM Secretariat and Deputy Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration (STA) of China. On 19 September, the Council Meeting updated the works on BRITACOM, proclaimed Ms. Amel Abdellatif (General Director of Taxes of Algeria) President of the third BRITACOF and Chair of the BRITACOM Council,  approved the establishment of the BRITA•Riyadh, and set out the possible results of the third BRITACOF. On 21 September, the Council Meeting declared that the agenda of the third BRITACOF had been fulfilled and the Forum arrived at six outcomes.

 

The Plenary Session was held throughout the three days between 19 and 21 September. At the Opening Ceremony, Mr. Brahim Djamel Kassali, Algerian Minister of Finance, mentioned in his remarks that in the post-pandemic era, the BRITACOM has developed a framework of mutual learning with integrated resources for relevant jurisdictions which are willing to improve work efficiency and provide better services to taxpayers. Ms. Amel Abdellatif, Chair of the BRITACOM Council, President of the third BRITACOF and General Director  of Taxes of Algeria, said in her remarks that the BRITACOM brings great opportunities to the tax authorities, with BRITACEG’s training resources and dialogues with businesses, for competence enhancement of the tax officials. 

 

 

Mr. Zhanalinov Daniyar, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, acknowledged in his keynote speech the shared purpose by all Members to facilitate global economic recovery with taxation functions. The BRITACOM has provided a unique platform of collaboration and knowledge sharing. And Kazakhstan will enhance tax administration through international cooperation, and pay contributions to the development of BRITACOM. Mr. Wang Jun, Commissioner of the STA of China, stated in his keynote speech that all parties involved in the BRITACOM have made concerted efforts and achieved multiple accomplishments. The STA has been proactively working on the BRITAs establishment, curriculum design, the enrollment of trainers and practices sharing on tax administration as well. China looks forward to collective efforts in further developing BRITACOM, improving knowledge sharing and enhancing digitization of tax administration to make new ground in international tax cooperation.

 

 

On the first day of the Plenary Session, representatives from the tax authorities of Hungary, Uruguay, Myanmar, Algeria, Malaysia, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, China, Iran and Sierra Leon, and experts from the ITIC, ATAF, University of Amsterdam and WU Global Tax Policy Center, have contributed to the discussions as speakers or panelists on topics of Strategic Planning of Capacity Building and Information Technology and Capacity Building.   

 

On the second day of the Plenary Session, representatives from the tax authorities of Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Italy, and experts from the IBFD, Shell International B.V., Deloitte, OECD, IFA, ATAF, IMF, CIAT, WATAF, ICC, Università Cattolica di Piacenza and Huawei Global Finance (UK) Ltd, shared their insights and experiences on topics of Life-long Learning of Tax Officials, Train the Trainers, and Experience Sharing by International Organizations.

 

On 21 September, the third BRITACOF dropped the curtain with all agenda fulfilled and six outcomes released, including

 

Looking ahead, the BRITACOM will continue to strengthen the cooperation among parties of the BRITACOM, and contribute to the building of a growth-friendly tax environment.