From 4th to 5th July, the BRITACOM successfully held an event on “the development of the BRITAs”. Representatives from 5 BRITAs: BRITA•Astana, BRITA•Beijing, BRITA•Macao, BRITA•Riyadh and BRITA•Yangzhou attended the event. Meanwhile, tax administrations of Algeria, Uruguay, and other jurisdictions, as well as international organizations such as the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and representatives from BRITACEG experts and embassies based in China, participated in the event either on-site or online. 

 

The two-day event was productive. Ms. Meng Yuying, Director-general of International Taxation Department of State Taxation Administration of China (STA) made the opening marks, on behalf of Mr. Wang Daoshu, Executive Secretary of the BRITACOM Secretariat and Deputy Commissioner of the STA, to extend sincere greetings and warm welcome to all attendees. She also introduced the progress of the BRITACOM, which has built a new bridge for all parties to exchange insights on tax matters to promote economic and trade connections. At the end of opening statement, she invited all delegates to participate in the 5th BRITACOF, which will be held in Hong Kong, China on 24-26 September 2024. 

 

 

Following that, Mr. Iong Kong Leong, Director of BRITACEG introduced that BRITACEG has successively established five BRITAs, forming a multilingual training network covering English, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic-speaking jurisdictions since 2019. Over the past five years, BRITACEG has actively developed various knowledge products, released the 1.0 version of the curriculum system, and invited over 100 fiscal and tax officials, industry experts, and representatives from nearly 20 jurisdictions and international organizations to join in the course making. To date, the BRITACEG has organized more than 130 online and offline training programs by the five BRITAs, training over 5,500 fiscal and tax officials from more than 120 jurisdictions.

 

During the experience exchange session,  representatives from the five BRITAs introduced their institutes, training activities and future plan. CIAT, ADB, and UNDP representatives introduced opportunities, and areas of collaboration, and held in-depth conversations about training, curriculum, and teacher resources, offering suggestions and recommendations to BRITACEG. Representatives from China, Algeria, and the BRITACEG expert group also shared their experiences in capacity building and contribution to the BRITACOM. Besides, discussion over BRITACEG Work Report (2022-2024), BRITAs, BRITACEG curriculum, expert and faculty, website development, and Rules and Regulations on the BRITACEG (Trial) were also launched, during which insightful and impressive comments and suggestions were given by the representatives. A study tour was arranged to Smart Taxation Experience Center of Jiangsu Province. Representatives have also joined the cultural events. 

 

 

As the first gathering specifically for BRITAs, this event is a major landmark in the progress of the BRITACOM. We expect more in-depth exchanges among relevant parties in our mutual effort to improve these BRITAs.