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
