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South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner to host first India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Heads of Revenue Administration's meeting
17 November 2006
Pretoria – Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service, Mr Pravin Gordhan, will host his counterparts from Brazil and India in Pretoria next week for the inaugural India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Heads of Revenue Administrations meeting.
The IBSA Dialogue Forum was initiated in 2003 to strengthen political and economic ties between the three developing countries. In September this year, the Heads of Government of the three nations met in Brasilia for the first IBSA summit where they agreed to explore additional areas for trilateral co-operation.
Next week's IBSA Heads of Revenue Administrations meeting will build on this to develop further co-operation especially in the areas of tax and customs administration.
The meeting will formalise the IBSA Heads of Revenue Administration's structure, which will report annually to the IBSA trade ministers and will outline the format and timing of future meetings. It is also expected that the meeting will discuss the challenges facing customs and tax administrations within the context of globalisation and the rapid expansion of trade, seeking means to combat smuggling, fraud, tax avoidance and other criminal behaviour, while still facilitating the rapid movement of goods vital for continued economic growth.
Trade between South Africa, Brazil and India has risen sharply over the past few years and is expected to grow even more significantly once a formal trade agreement is in place between the IBSA partners. Trade between South Africa and Brazil rose to more than R10 billion in 2005 from R6,6 billion two years earlier. Trade between South Africa and India totalled more than R14 billion last year – more than double that of 2003.
The Heads of Revenue Administration's meeting will be attended by Mr Jorge Rachid, Federal Revenue Secretary of Brazil, Mr KM Chandrasekhar, Revenue Secretary of India, and Mr Pravin Gordhan, Commissioner of SARS. It begins on Sunday, 19 November and ends on Tuesday, 21 November 2006.
There will be a media opportunity at the conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday, 21 November 2006. Further details of this will be released early next week.
For further media enquiries only, please contact:
Adrian Lackay
SARS Communications
Tel: (012) 422 4206
Cell: 083 388 2580
Issued by: South African Revenue Service
17 November 2006