Mauritius Hosts General Assembly of African Tax Administration Forum

Tax administrators from the thirty six African countries members of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) are participating from the 25 to 27 July in the first General Assembly of ATAF on the theme: “The International and Domestic Aspects of Tax Fraud, Evasion and Avoidance”.

Organised by ATAF in collaboration with the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA), the three-day meeting which is being held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Mauritius, aims at enabling operators as well as policy makers to get a firm hold on the way things are evolving in the area of international taxation both globally and within the region. The meeting is also acting as a platform whereby tax agencies in Africa have the opportunity to discuss on ways to improve on their performance strategies as regards the tax administration system in their respective countries.

In his address at the opening of the meeting on Monday 25 July the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Vasant K. Bunwaree, hailed the efforts of ATAF for providing a platform to improve the performance of tax administration in Africa by promoting efficient and effective tax administrations. The Minister is of opinion that the strengthening and enhancement of professionalism in the African tax administrations will consequently improve the mobilisation of domestic resource for economic development.

With increasing cross-border investments and transactions, which are generating more income across country borders, Mauritius, said the Minister, is revisiting its legislative and institutional framework to reinforce financial supervision and strengthen the regime to fight terrorist financing, money laundering and other financial crime. Innovation and the implementation of best practices in the African revenue administrations should be adopted to achieve improvement of good governance, transparency and accountability among tax administrators, thus allowing Africa to influence the global dialogue on tax issues, added Dr. Bunwaree.

ATAF lays much emphasis on capacity development for African Tax Administrations. Besides, the building of effective and efficient tax systems across Africa is vital to meet the development responsibilities of the people in a sustainable manner.

ATAF was established in November 2009 with the main objective of catering for the development and maintenance of efficient and effective administration within the context of taxation while technical workshops and international dialogue remain the core part of ATAF's programme of capacity development. In addition to playing its role as the central platform for African tax administrators to articulate African tax priorities, it aims at developing and sharing best practices in the region and building capacity in African tax policy and administration through peer learning and knowledge development.