Sponsored by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy, the 2009 CIAT Technical Conference was held on October 19-22 in Naples, whose main theme was “Strengthening of the Capacity of the Tax Administration”. Participants included delegations from 29 member countries and associate member countries, as well as delegations from other guest countries and observers, international organizations and institutions related to CIAT.

Discussions were based on three aspects of the main theme:

• Design and implementation of the Tax Policy: The role of the Tax administration.
• Key aspects for improving the control capacity of the tax administration.
• Management tool and relevant aspects for strengthening the tax administration.

The presentations on these three main aspects were complemented with specific experiences related to these issues which may serve as examples of good practices.

The keynote speech was given by Mrs. Teresa Ter-Minassian, former Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund, and Final Comments were presented by Mr. José Antonio de Azevedo Pereira, General Tax Director of Portugal.

As part of the Technical Conference, the Representatives of the CIAT member countries gathered in a Technical-Strategic Session to analyze the impact of the current global crisis on the Tax Administration based on a 12-country study prepared and presented by Mr. Claudino Pita, CIAT Executive Secretary.  In addition, a case study on the anti-crisis measures adopted was presented by Mr. Luis Pedroche y Rojo, General Director of the Spanish Agency of Tax Administration.

At the aforementioned Technical-Strategic Session of Representatives the members present approved the CIAT Declaration of Principles on the Exchange and Use of Information Technology and Communications, whose objective is the exchange or transfer –among the tax administrations of CIAT member countries and associate member countries- of studies, experiences, models, best practices, designs, solutions, applications, systems, architectures and technical elements which, even though belonging to any of the countries, may be of interest and use by another or other countries.

Likewise, respective invitations were made by the General Directorate of Taxation of Uruguay to the 44th CIAT General Assembly to be held in Montevideo, on April 12-15, 2010; and the General Directorate of Public Finance of France to the Technical Conference in Paris, on October 18-21, 2010.

CIAT also honored Mrs. Teresa Ter-Minassian, Dr. Michele del Giudice, and Prof. Víctor Uckmar, for their distinguished professional careers in the field of taxation and permanent support to the activities of CIAT.

The CIAT Executive Council also rendered special tribute to Dr. Claudino Pita, the Executive Secretary, for his outstanding international contribution to tax policy analysis and the strengthening and modernization of the tax administrations, also highlighting his valuable and productive performance at CIAT which concludes next December.