After three days of work, from Tuesday June 11 to Thursday June 13, 2024 in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, participants in the 37th Annual Conference and 40th General Assembly of the Circle of Reflection and Exchange of Directors of Tax Administrations (CREDAF) separated, under the auspices of Mr. Athanase NGASSAKI, Chief of Staff of the Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Jean-Baptiste ONDAYE. They adopted three major conclusions, including the appointment of the new current President of this organization, for a period of one year. This is Mr. Ludovic ITOUA, Director General of Taxes and Domains (DGID) of Congo, the organizing country.

This designation follows the principle of the rotating presidency of this French-speaking organization, which brings together 40 states from four continents (Africa, America, Asia and Europe). According to this principle, the Head of the Tax Administration of the country organizing the Conference which is ending automatically becomes the new President in office. While the Director General of Taxes of the country which will host the next Conference, coupled with the next General Assembly, takes control of the current Vice-Presidency, for a period of 12 months.

The 2nd conclusion adopted by the participants relates to the choice of the organizing country of the 38th Conference and the 41st General Assembly of CREDAF. This is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). From then on, the Vice-Presidency of CREDAF 2024-2025 was entrusted to the Head of the Tax Administration of this country, Mr. Barnabé MUAKADI MUAMBA.

The third major conclusion concerned the choice of the host city. “These Conferences will be held in 2025, in Kinshasa, the capital,” they agreed.

The new Vice-President took the opportunity to welcome his peers in advance to the DRC. A video showing the wealth of the DRC was shown in the room. A country the size of a continent, with marvelous tourist sites and scandalous soil and underground treasures.

For his part, in his speech for the occasion, the new current President of CREDAF 2024-2025 said he was satisfied with the achievement of the objectives set by the 37th Annual Conference and the 40th General Assembly, placed under the theme: “Collection and use of data: national issues with an international dimension”.

“The interest we gave to the issue that brought us together, as well as the quality of our interventions during the Workshops, lived up to expectations, both at the Assises of our 37th Annual Conference and our 40th General Assembly as 'at the level of the Workshops. Our reunions were not just another reunion. Because, specifically, we have just identified the best practices and current perspectives for the collection and use of data. In view of what we learned in the Workshops, we must change our mental software, to face, from now on, the new challenges that face us, with a view to boosting the work in our respective tax administrations. To achieve this, we must place particular emphasis on innovative technological solutions. One of the merits of our reunion in Brazzaville is to have exchanged and not to have given each other lessons. For the next 12 months, we assure you that we will spare no effort to continue the work of our predecessors,” declared Mr. Ludovic ITOUA. He succeeds in this position his Guinean predecessor, Mr. Mory CAMARA, Director General of Taxes of the Republic of Guinea-Conakry.

Turning off the lanterns of the Brazzaville Conference-2024, Mr. Athanase NGASSAKI, Representative of the Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance, praised the quality of the work carried out by the CREDAF Delegates around the central theme.

He took the opportunity to recall the wish expressed by his supervisory authority, Tuesday June 11, 2024, at the opening of the work: “May the Brazzaville Conference contribute to making the tax administrations, members of CREDAF, more seasoned and better equipped in the collection of tax revenues in our respective States! ".

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance

Photo credit: B2B Communication