The Fourth Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) themed “Improving Tax Environment” was convened on 11 September, 2023, in Tbilisi Georgia. More than 300 delegates, including 11 tax heads, 14 deputy tax heads, and delegates of tax authorities from 33 jurisdictions and, representatives and experts form 10 international organizations and world-famous enterprises attended this event on site. This BRITACOF was also participated by tax authorities as well as international organizations virtually.

The Fourth 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 the Council Meetings and the Plenary Session. 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 elected Mr. Levan Kakava, Head of the Revenue Service of Georgia, to be the President of the Fourth BRITACOF and Chair of the BRITACOM Council, introduced New BRITACOM Council Vice-Chair Mr. Davlatzoda Nusratullo Muqim, Chairman of the Tax Committee under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, and 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 CIAT.

The Council Meeting also adopted the agenda of the Fourth BRITACOF and presented the six outcomes, namely Joint Statement of the Fourth BRITACOF, Action Plan for Improving Tax Environment (2023-2025), Special Editions of Best Practices on Improving Tax Environment, a video collection of BRITACOM events in Improving Tax Environment, courses released under the BRITACEG Curriculum System, and Annual Report of the BRITACOM (2023). On 13 September, the Council Meeting will declare the host of the Fifth BRITACOF, the Inland Revenue Department of Hong Kong, China.

The Plenary Session is held throughout the three days between 11 and 13 September. On the first day (Sept 11), 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, Deputy Commissioner of State Taxation Administration of China, updated the work progress of the BRITACOM. Mr. Iong Kong Leong, Director of 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 terms of office as President of the Third 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 delivered technical presentations and conduct deep discussions 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 enterprises will share experiences on improving tax environment from their perspective and have dialogues with tax authorities. The Fourth BRITACOF will drop the curtain with all 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 countries.