New regional network meeting on BEPS held in Costa Rica
On 17-18 November 2015, a new regional meeting as well as a governmental workshop on BEPS was held for the Latin America and the Caribbean region to discuss the outcomes of the BEPS Project, and the ways that the countries can explore to be involved on an equal footing in the implementation and the monitoring phase of the measures adopted.
The meeting was hosted in San José, Costa Rica, by the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica in cooperation with the OECD, the Inter-American Center for Tax Administration (CIAT) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The event followed the previous regional meeting that took place in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 21-23 October 2015 and the technical committee meeting organised in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on 11-12 November 2015.
49 participants attended the meeting and provided feedback on the delivery of the BEPS Package, as well as views on how to develop a more inclusive framework to include all interested countries on an equal footing in the monitoring and implementation phase. 16 countries were represented and the event included representatives from the Business Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC), Latindadd, the BEPS Monitoring Group and business community from the region.
The Vice-Minister of Taxes of Costa Rica, Fernando Rodriguez Garro, Alberto Barreix, Principal Technical Leader at the IADB, Gonzalo Arias Esteban, International Co-operation and Taxation Director at the CIAT welcomed the participants and delivered opening remarks. Carlos Vargas Duran, Director General of Taxes of Costa Rica and Ubaldo Gonzalez, Senior Advisor at the OECD, co-chaired the meeting.
Discussions focused on the options for an inclusive framework to implement BEPS measures and beyond, on the toolkits being elaborated to meet developing countries’ specific needs as well as existing and possible new capacity building initiative for the Latin American and Caribbean countries including through an increased cooperation between the OECD and the CIAT in particular with training sessions.
