The Attorney-General and Minister for Finance at the second day of the Asia-Pacific High Level Consultation on Financing for Development in Jakarta, Indonesia chaired the last panel discussion on strengthening regional integration and partnerships. He was also part of the panel that deliberated on the Accord which is to be finalised in July 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Over the course of the two days, the priority areas of the Asia-Pacific region vis-a-vis the Accord were discussed. This was highlighted in the 1 May 2015 summary document which highlighted the priority areas of the Asia-Pacific region that is to be reflected in the Accord. These included the special needs of least developed States, landlocked developing States and small island developing States by trade leverage, foreign direct investment and access to and transfer of technology, as well as capacity building in line with the implementation of the various multilateral instruments such as the Istanbul Program of Action; enhancement and use of domestic resource mobilisation towards social sectors to address social disparities; and adoption of tax policies and approaches to broaden tax bases for both individual and corporate income taxes (wherever coverage is limited).
The detailed submission on the priority areas of the Asia-Pacific region is to be circulated to the member States for review later this week.
Press Release