Promoting Public Governance

A four-day joint Tax Conference with ADB HQ was held on 8–11 October in collaboration with OECD, the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD), and the Tax Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Japan. Governance is one of the priority themes ADBI works to promote. In accordance with this priority, the objective of the conference was to provide developing member country participants with international knowledge and experience for tax policy design and tax reform as well as to share experiences and establish networks among policymakers responsible for tax policies and administration.

Senior tax officials from 32 ADB developing member countries participated in this annual event. Masahiro Kawai, Dean of the Institute and Toshiya Otsu, Director for International Issues on Taxation, Japan's Ministry of Finance, opened the conference.

Participants shared country experiences on tax reforms and exchanged views on the latest development and trends, such as the increasing number of international tax treaties following the ever-growing globalization of economic activities and the continued decline in customs revenues due to the WTO and FTA commitments to reduce or eliminate customs duties on many products. The progress of tax reform measures in response to these trends was discussed, including the increasing use of value-added tax (VAT), its implementation progress and issues, and measures to address transfer pricing and double taxation.

View more information about the conference.