Mr. Iong Kong Leong, Director of the Financial Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, President of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Academy of Macao, and Director of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group, attended the 4th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and delivered a speech titled Deepen Mutual Learning and Cooperation and Work Together for Capacity Enhancement. The following is the content of the speech:
 
Dear delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, good afternoon and good evening!
       It is my great honor to be here and by taking this opportunity, I’d like to share with you the development and recent achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group (hereinafter referred to as “BRITACEG”).
       Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism (BRITACOM), the BRITACEG is responsible for capacity enhancement in BRI jurisdictions and 20 tax administrations have become BRITACEG members, 14 tax administrations, international organizations and academic institutions have become partners of the BRITACEG.
       Since its establishment in 2019, all parties of the BRITACEG have made active efforts. In particular, relying on the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Academies (BRITAs), the BRITACEG has strived to carry out high-quality knowledge training and academic research, increase tax-related technical assistance, strengthen more frequent exchanges and mutual assistance and continuously enhance the administrative capability of BRI jurisdictions based on the concerns of the tax administrations.
       First, the Curriculum System Version 1.0 has been released. We have made significant progress in the construction of the training course system. Based on the introduction of the curriculum system released on the 3^rd BRITACOF, by optimizing the design and the structure and enriching the contents, the BRITACEG Curriculum System Version 1.0 has been released through the BRITACOM’s official website and the websites of the BRITAs in February this year.
       In accordance with a practical, functional and effective target-oriented approach and the functional positioning of tax authorities and the responsibilities of tax officials, the curriculum system offers 65 courses covering 8 topics and 27 subtopics under the four themes of “Tax System”, “Tax Administration and Digitalization”, “Tax Environment and Taxpayer Service” and “Tax Cooperation”. The courses are divided into three levels: elementary, intermediate and advanced and cover the main work of tax authorities, which are targeted at tax officials with different backgrounds and professional levels. The curriculum system aims to build a systematic, professional and open learning platform for tax officials from all participants while meeting relevant demands of BRI jurisdictions on mutual improvement of tax administration capacity building. The courses have been officially launched at the end of August and are now available online, You and your colleagues are more than welcome to register and start a learning journey characterized by rich, comprehensive and professional tax knowledge on the website of BRITAs. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the BRITACEG Office .
       Second, the continuous development of the team of trainers. The BRITACEG is always “eager” for the connection with high-level trainers, who are the prerequisite for providing high-quality training and enhancing influence and reputation of the BRITACEG. Through extensive efforts in inviting experts from different jurisdictions, the Expert Group was set up, including 26 internationally-renowned tax experts from 13 jurisdictions. Among them, there are middle and high-level tax officials, scholars and industry veterans with experiences of academic research and business practice, showing the international, diversified and professional construction orientation of the BRITACEG.
       In the process of constructing the curriculum system, the BRITACEG brought into full play the role of the existing trainers, and spared no effort to invite more tax-related professionals with quality proficiency and rich experience to participate in the online training program. According to preliminary statistics, more than 100 tax officials and experts from tax departments and international organizations of 18 jurisdictions have recorded online courses for the BRITACEG. The quality of the courses and the professional level have been effectively improved.
       Third, the consistent consolidation of the network of BRITAs. Relying on the BRITAs, we carry out training activities and promote international taxation exchanges and cooperation. So far, five BRITAs have been set up: BRITA·Yangzhou,BRITA·Beijing,BRITA·Astana,BRITA·Macao,and BRITA·Riyadh. The BRITAs build a training institution network covering more regions with different languages, including English-speaking,Chinese-speaking, Russian-speaking, Portuguese-speaking and Arabic-speaking regions. With the joint efforts of BRITAs, the sharing of the BRITACEG resources has become increasingly smooth, the coverage area of its knowledge products continues to expand, and the international influence of it continues to grow.
       So far from 2022, the BRITAs have carried out seminars and trainings in an orderly manner. The BRITA·Astana and the BRITA·Riyadh have conducted multiple training programs on topics such as the application of tax-related big data, which improved their ability of holding international training events and laid a solid foundation for more large-scale training programs in the future. BRITA·Yangzhou and BRITA·Beijing have gradually resumed offline training after the pandemic while maintaining and optimizing online training. The BRITA·Macao carried out its first cross-border cooperative training program under the guidance of the BRITACEG, and continued to explore cooperation modes，providing examples for cross-border joint training, and effectively enhancing the BRITACEG’s brand influence.
       Fourth, the vigorous development of training programs and seminars. The BRITACEG training program, basically covering the whole field and all links of practical tax work, focuses on basic theory and practical application, conforms to the global economic situation and the development differences of jurisdictions, and attaches equal importance to professionalism and practicality. Up to now, the BRITACEG has organized more than 60 online and offline training programs and seminars, covering over 3,500 tax officials from more than 120 jurisdictions.
       Based on the websites of the BRITAs, the BRITACEG carries out online training programs on the four themes of the curriculum system, collects feedback from participants in a timely manner, and optimizes training courses, continuously enhances the capability. The BRITACEG gathers multiple platforms and forces, extends cooperation space, innovates training models, carries out various high-quality training activities, and successfully holds a series of offline tax-themed training courses. The international influence of the BRITACEG's training continues to increase.
       Ladies and Gentlemen!
       Based on the needs of BRI jurisdictions, the BRITACEG will continue to improve its international platform integrating training, research, capacity evaluation and other functions with the goal of enhancing tax administration capacity of BRI jurisdictions. The BRITACEG will further integrate global high-quality resources and continuously strengthen the international, diversified, and professional team of trainers. The BRITACEG will further expand the network of the BRITAs and formulate systematic and complete training standards. The BRITACEG will further rely on resources from all parties to carry out larger scale, wider coverage, and more diverse online and offline training programs. We will further improve the BRITACEG's curriculum system and provide more professional training services for tax officials of the BRI jurisdictions.
       On behalf of the BRITACEG, I sincerely welcome experts, scholars, and leaders of the BRITAs and international organizations to participate in BRITACEG’s program planning and development, welcome tax officials from all jurisdictions to exchange and study through this platform, and jointly facilitate the continuous optimization of the curriculum system and the continuous enrichment of training programs. In this way, the BRITACEG will become a significant choice for tax officials of all BRI jurisdictions to strengthen their capacity of tax administration.
       Ladies and Gentlemen!
       Looking forward to the future, we will deepen resource sharing, promote mutual learning among tax authorities of the BRI jurisdictions, provide high-quality and abundant knowledge products for tax officials of all participating parties, and give full play to the role of the platform in strengthening tax administration capacity enhancement and in promoting international taxation exchanges and cooperation. Let’s join hands to optimize the global and regional tax environment, and work together to build a growth-friendly tax environment.
       Thank you!