The 4th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) themed “Improving Tax Environment” was convened in Tbilisi, Georgia on 11 September 2023. More than 300 delegates, including 25 heads and deputy heads of tax authorities from 32 jurisdictions and, representatives and experts from 10 international organizations and world-famous enterprises attended this event onsite and remotely.

 

 

The 4th BRITACOF is hosted by the Revenue Service of Georgia, aiming to pool wisdom and share insights in terms of improving tax environment, enhancing tax administration capacity, promoting tax administration in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) jurisdictions, and facilitating global economic recovery.

 

The Forum is comprised of Council Meetings and the Plenary Sessions. The moderator of Council Meetings is Mr. Wang Daoshu, Executive Secretary of the BRITACOM Secretariat and Deputy Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration (STA) of China. On 11 September, the Council Meeting declared Mr. Levan Kakava, Head of the Revenue Service of Georgia, the President of the 4th BRITACOF and Chair of the BRITACOM Council, elected a new BRITACOM Council Vice-Chair Mr. Davlatzoda Nusratullo Muqim, Chairman of the Tax Committee under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, and introduced New Advisory Board Members Mr. Albert Baker, Global Tax Policy Leader Deloitte; Mr. Babatunde Oladapo, Executive Secretary of WATAF; Mr. Edwin Visser, Deputy Global Tax Policy Leader of PwC; and Mr. Marcio Ferreira Verdi, Executive Secretary of Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT). The Council Meeting also presented the six outcomes which will be released on 13 September.  

 

The Plenary Session is held throughout the three days between 11 and 13 September. On the first day, at the Opening Ceremony, Mr. Lasha Khutsishvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia, delivered a welcome address to all the delegates. Mr. Wang Daoshu, Executive Secretary of BRITACOM Secretariat, updated the work progress of the BRITACOM. Mr. Iong Kong Leong, Director of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group (BRITACEG), Director of Financial Services Bureau of Macao, China, updated the work progress of the BRITACEG. Mrs. Amel ABDELLATIF, General Director of Taxes of Algeria, expressed appreciation and congratulations to the Revenue Service of Georgia for hosting this BRITACOF and introduced achievements made during her term of office as President of the 3rd BRITACOF and Chair of the BRITACOM Council. Mr. Wang Jun, Commissioner of State Taxation Administration of China, delivered his keynote speech on Improving Tax Environment for Common Development. Commissioner Wang Jun reviewed the fruitful results of the five-years concerted efforts of advancing the BRITACOM, shared China’s explorations and practices of improving tax environment, and proposed three initiatives for pursuing high-quality development of BRI jurisdictions.

 

The Opening Ceremony is followed by keynote speeches and panel discussions. High-profile speakers would deliver technical presentations and conduct deep discussions on topics of Overall Planning of Improving Tax Environment, Transparency of Tax Regulations and Tax Administration, Reducing Tax Burden, Streamlining Tax Compliance, Information Technology and Tax Environment Improvement, and Dispute Resolution Mechanism and Tax Environment Improvement. There will also be a session of Business and Industry Tax Dialogue where the business will share experiences on improving tax environment from their perspective and have dialogues with tax authorities. The 4th BRITACOF will drop the curtain with the entire agenda fulfilled and six outcomes released on September 13.

 

Looking ahead, the BRITACOM will continue to play its role as a bridge to strengthen the cooperation among parties of the BRITACOM, and make unremitting efforts to contribute to the building of a growth-friendly tax environment, with an aim to benefit BRI jurisdictions and other developing economies.