The Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism (BRITACOM) Virtual Roundtable Meeting was convened on March 16 2023, hosted by Mr. Wang Daoshu, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the BRITACOM and Deputy Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration (STA) of China and attended by representatives of BRITACOM Council Members, Observers, members of the Expert Advisory Board and members of the BRITJ Editorial Advisory Board. At the meeting, participants advised on and exchanged insights about the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group (BRITACEG) Curriculum System Version 1.0, the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Journal (BRITJ) and the 4th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF).
In February 2023, the BRITACEG released the Curriculum System Version 1.0 via the official website of the BRITACOM and the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Academy (BRITA), which garnered widespread interest. At the meeting, Mr. Iong Kong Leong, Director of the BRITACEG and Director of the Financial Services Bureau of Macau China, introduced that the BRITACEG Curriculum System Version 1.0, aiming at enhancing the capacity of tax administration and closely associated with the functions and duties of tax authorities, establishes 65 courses under four themes, namely, Tax System, Tax Administration and Digitalization, Tax Environment and Taxpayer Service, and Tax Cooperation. Mr. Iong Kong Leong also noted that the BRITACEG has made remarkable achievements in the provision of training, the development of BRITAs and the building of the faculty team after three years. So far, it has held over 50 online and onsite training events for more than 3,000 tax officials from over 100 jurisdictions, established five BRITAs in Yangzhou, Beijing, Astana, Macao, and Riyadh as a multilingual training network featuring English, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic, and set up the first BRITACEG Expert Group comprising 26 internationally renowned tax experts from 13 countries and regions.
At the meeting, representatives from BRITAs of Yangzhou, Astana and Riyadh, Mr. Yue Song, Ms. Bashayeva Kamila and Mr. Abdulaziz Bawazeer, observed that the Curriculum System Version 1.0 provides a practical template to which they could adapt their current curriculum combined with its own characteristics, so as to further cooperation and communication, inform more knowledge products and share training resources. Training programs of consequently wider coverage, larger scale and richer substance will contribute to higher capacity of tax administration among the BRI jurisdictions and a more growth-friendly tax environment. The Curriculum System Version 1.0 was applauded by the participating experts including Mr. Christian Kaeser, Chairman of Tax Commission of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Mr. Rup Khadka, tax expert from Nepal, Mr. Deng Liping, Professor of Xiamen University and Mr. Alejandro Juárez, Director of Training and Development of Human Talent of Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT). Mr. Christian Kaeser said that the release of the Curriculum System Version 1.0 and corresponding courses will deliver scientific, professional and efficient training to more and more tax officials from BRI jurisdictions, enhance efficiencies for tax administrations to address new and upcoming tax challenges, and navigate the development of the BRITACEG to a new phase.
As a signature knowledge product of the BRITACOM, the BRITJ has published 6 issues, containing more than 100 articles and 500,000 words in total. Focusing on the hot topics of international taxation, the BRITJ is committed to deepening integration with the pursuit and achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative and addressing the tax concerns among the BRI jurisdictions.
Mr. Zhang Zhiyong, Chair of the BRITJ Editorial Advisory Board and Chairman of China International Taxation Research Institute, emphasized that the BRITJ is networking BRI Tax Administrations for further communication, cooperation and synergy. The BRITJ will continue to provide intellectual support by improving its quality, opening communication channels and expanding its global reach. A number of members of the BRITJ Editorial Advisory Board, including Mr. Jefferey Owens, Director of the WU Global Tax Policy Center, Mr. Stef van Weeghel, Global Tax Policy Leader of PwC and Mr. Zhu Qing, Professor of School of Finance of Renmin University of China, shared their suggestions and recommendations regarding the Journal.
It is also noted that Ms. Ia Mikhelidze, the representative of Revenue Service of Georgia, has given an update on the progress of the 4th BRITACOF themed optimization of tax environment for business to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 11 to 13.
