Dushanbe, 19 March 2007—
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, signed a joint action plan with the Tajik Tax Committee to help improve procedures for inspections of businesses in Tajikistan. The project, led by IFC and financed by SECO, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, will focus on streamlining procedures in accordance with the law governing inspections that the Tajik government adopted last summer.
“By signing this action plan, we confirm our intention to work with IFC on implementing the amendments to the tax code related to inspections. After developing the required regulations, the Tax Committee and IFC will provide training for key officials to ensure that they understand the new regulations and incorporate them into their work,” said Hakim Huseinovich Soliev, chairman of the Tax Committee.
The signing also represents a further step in the two-year collaboration between the two organizations. In 2006, they conducted a wide-scale dissemination of the Inspection Registration Books by printing 125,000 copies and distributing them among Tajik entrepreneurs. Since then, the Tax Committee and IFC have held numerous workshops on inspection regulations for staff and entrepreneurs, as well as round-table discussions to facilitate dialogue between entrepreneurs and the committee staff.
IFC project manager Andrea Dall’Olio expects that the development of the tax inspections manual and the training of officials and entrepreneurs will simplify tax inspections procedures and increase transparency. “We believe that our collaboration with the Tax Committee will increase the effectiveness of tax administration and improve the relationship between entrepreneurs and tax bodies,” he explained.
The action plan contains a detailed list of activities to be undertaken by both parties in 2007, particularly for developing inspections manuals and training of staff. It also includes an information campaign dedicated to the dissemination of tax inspections rules among Tajikistan’s small businesses.
About IFC
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, promotes open and competitive markets in developing countries. IFC supports sustainable private sector companies and other partners in generating productive jobs and delivering basic services, so that people have opportunities to escape poverty and improve their lives. Through FY06, IFC Financial Products has committed more than $56 billion in funding for private sector investments and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC Advisory Services and donor partners have provided more than $1 billion in program support to build small enterprises, to accelerate private participation in infrastructure, to improve the business enabling environment, to increase access to finance, and to strengthen environmental and social sustainability. For more information, please visit
www.ifc.org
.
About SECO
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is the Swiss Confederation's competence center for all the core issues related to economic policy. Its aim is to create basic regulatory and economic policy conditions to enable business to flourish and benefit all. SECO also represents Switzerland in the large multilateral trade organizations and international negotiations, and is involved in efforts to reduce poverty and help developing countries with transition economies build sustainable democratic societies and viable market economies. Each year, Switzerland spends about 1.9 billion Swiss francs on development cooperation and transition assistance to countries.
