Thank you for joining the 8th Africa Tax Symposium
On 24-26 May 2023, the Africa Tax Symposium (ATS) saw us returning to a physical event, held in the warm and vibrant city of Arusha, Tanzania. It was great to see so many new and old friends returning to the ATS, and it was clear everyone was happy to meet in person.
The ATS is such an important place for African nations to meet and share common issues, look for solutions on how to improve tax regimes and treaties, and, more importantly, put solid plans into place to continue to work together long after the symposium has ended.
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) gave us a warm welcome to Tanzania, and the signing of an MoU cements a great future of collaboration together. The Dutch Embassy also hosted a welcome reception for us, which delegates and friends alike thoroughly enjoyed.
Belema Obuoforibo, Chair of the IBFD Centre for Studies in African Taxation and Director of the IBFD Knowledge Centre, officially opened this year’s symposium. In her opening speech, she welcomed all delegates, old and new. She also reminded everyone of the rich and unique history of the symposium and thanked our Special Guest of Honour, Mr. Alphayo Kidata, the Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority. Similar sentiments were also expressed by Victor van Kommer, Director, Tax Services, and our CEO, Jan Maarten Slagter.
As always, the sessions were lively and interactive, rich in perspectives from every sector of the tax profession. The 2.5-day programme was packed! To acknowledge their work and importance to us, we also hosted a special lunch for our network of authors and correspondents, the “lifeblood of IBFD”. We also took the opportunity to welcome our committee members and guests of our Centre for Studies of African Taxation (CSAT). It was the ideal opportunity to remind everyone of the work CSAT does and a perfect segway to an afternoon session in which we launched the CSAT-WATAF Research Collaboration.
We wish to offer our thanks to everyone involved with this year’s symposium. This year’s speakers and panel members did an amazing job in stimulating lively debates and conversations. We also send a warm thank you to all our delegates who travelled from far and wide to join us and reinforced just how important this forum is to our African nations.
In the coming months, we will announce our 2024 host country. Watch this space!
For more information or to contact us, please visit Centre for Studies in African Taxation (CSAT).