On the morning of October 13, the 7th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) kicked off in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, under the theme of “Smart Taxation, Shared Prosperity”.
More than 300 delegates participated in the Forum, including heads of tax authorities from nearly 40 jurisdictions, as well as representatives from eight international organizations and some institutes and multinational enterprises.
Mr. Bimo Wijayanto, Director General of Taxes of Indonesia, delivered a welcome address. Mr. Nurkholisoh Ibnu Aman, Vice Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, gave a special address. Mr. Huang Suhua, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism (BRITACOM) and Deputy Director-General of the International Taxation Department of the State Taxation Administration of China, briefed participants on the work progress of BRITACOM. Ms. Ho Silvestre In Mui, Director of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group (BRITACEG) and Director of the Financial Services Bureau of Macao, China, reported on the progress of the BRITACEG. Mr. Bhishma Kumar Bhusal, Director General of Nepal’s Inland Revenue Department and host of the previous Forum, delivered a keynote speech.
In his welcome address, Mr. Bimo Wijayanto stated that Indonesia is honored to host the 7th BRITACOF. Faced with new opportunities and challenges brought by digital transformation, all parties should build consensus, strengthen collaboration and enhance mutual trust to jointly advance smarter tax governance. Indonesia will keep improving its tax administration capacity, scale up the application of technologies including artificial intelligence, expand cooperation networks and share practical experience with all partners to deliver common progress in tax administration.
In his special address, Mr. Nurkholisoh Ibnu Aman noted that BRITACOM serves as a vital platform for mutual learning, experience-sharing and capacity-building for tax administrations. It is expected that through regular policy dialogue, secure information exchange, joint training and expert exchanges, parties can bolster tax administration cooperation, translate consensus into actions, jointly tackle tax administration challenges stemming from the digital economy, foster a smarter, fairer and more efficient tax administration system, consolidate the foundation of public finance and create more development opportunities.
In his keynote speech, Mr. Bhishma Kumar Bhusal pointed out that the Forum’s theme “Smart Taxation, Shared Prosperity” is highly timely and of far-reaching significance. Nowadays, technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing are exerting profound impacts on the economy and taxation and bringing new requirements for tax administration. Strengthening international collaboration and forging global consensus is more imperative than ever. Nepal will continue to fully integrate into the BRITACOM community. By pursuing innovation-driven growth, advancing capacity-building and deepening international cooperation, Nepal will strive for higher-quality and more efficient tax administration and safeguard tax equity.
The meeting acknowledged and honored Mr. Wang Daoshu, former Executive Secretary and Deputy Commissioner of the State Taxation Administration of China, for his positive contributions to BRITACOM’s development. It announced that Mr. Huang Suhua, Deputy Director-General of the International Taxation Department of the State Taxation Administration of China, has assumed the post of Executive Secretary of the BRITACOM Secretariat.
Mr. Huang Suhua remarked that since BRITACOM’s inception, all parties have worked under the frameworks of the Wuzhen Action Plan (2019-2021), the Nur-Sultan Action Plan (2022-2024) and the Hong Kong Action Plan (2025-2027). A series of consensuses have been reached, and steady strides have been made in boosting tax certainty, advancing digital transformation of tax administration, improving the tax-related business environment and strengthening tax administration capacity building. During this Forum, BRITACOM will release the Tax Administration Product Portfolio (TAPP) 2.0, the Taxpayer Service Product Portfolio (TSPP) 2.0, and the 2026 Compilation of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration and Taxpayer Service Product Portfolio. It will also update BRITACEG courses and publish the BRITACOM Annual Report (2026). These deliverables pool advanced practices and typical tax administration cases from BRI jurisdictions. They aim to promote alignment of tax administration rules, mutual recognition of standards and joint capacity uplift, and provide more comprehensive toolkits and practical models for participating jurisdictions to enhance tax governance capacity and optimize the tax-related business environment.
In her progress report on BRITACEG, Ms. Ho Silvestre In Mui said tax administration capacity-building represents a fundamental and long-term component of tax cooperation among all parties. Targeting four objectives — regularized training, standardized curricula, professionalized faculty and internationalized collaboration — BRITACEG has kept refining its Curriculum System Version 1.0 and the “Rules and Regulations on BRITACEG (Trial)”, and facilitated the establishment of six Belt and Road Initiative Tax Academies (BRITAs). More than 40 training sessions have been held since September 2025, yielding positive outcomes. Going forward, centering on digital transformation and tax certainty, BRITACEG will roll out more targeted training, higher-quality curricula and deeper-rooted cooperation, make solid progress in capacity-building initiatives, and jointly foster a growth-friendly tax environment.
Prior to the opening ceremony, the BRITACOM Council Meeting was convened. The Meeting appointed Mr. Bimo Wijayanto, Director General of Taxes of Indonesia, as President of the 7th BRITACOF and Chair of the BRITACOM Council. It designated Mr. Abdulaziz Mohammed Faraj Al Mulla, Director General of the Federal Tax Authority of the United Arab Emirates, and Mr. Abu Martin Kanneh, Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone, as Vice-Chairs of the Council. The Council reviewed and approved deliverables including the Tax Administration Product Portfolio (TAPP) 2.0, the Taxpayer Service Product Portfolio (TSPP) 2.0 and the 2026 Compilation of the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration and Taxpayer Service Product Portfolio. It also briefed attendees on the agenda of the 7th Forum, laying a solid groundwork for subsequent sessions.
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