| Mr. M. Stone | |
| Director | |
| USSR and Eastern Europe | C. Savage |
| Programs Division | (613) 957-2070 |
| External Affairs | File No. 90M02499 |
| 25 Sussex Drive | |
| Ottawa, Ontario | |
| K1A 0G2 |
February 23, 1990
Dear Mr. Stone:
Re: Assistance for East Bloc Countries
I am writing in response to your request that we submit suggestions as to what our department could do to provide assistance to east bloc countries. You expressed particular interest in projects that could be initiated in the short term.
Our expertise is in the area of administering income tax systems. For some of the east bloc countries the existing legislative framework may require substantial revision. Assistance can be provided to those who are drawing up the legislative framework of a taxation system where it relates to administrative matters.
You may also continue to count on our cooperation in sharing our expertise by responding to east bloc requests for assistance by
- arranging short term programs for visiting delegations to familiarize them with our operations in general or specific aspects of our programs
- accepting officials for long term (i.e. 6 mo to 1 yr) attachment for training purposes
- providing training courses
- assisting in locating outside consultants (e.g. Revenue Canada retirees) to conduct needs analysis of other assignments in the host country.
We have found that some of the most effective vehicles for delivering this type to assistance are through international organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations. We could introduce foreign tax administrations to officials of these organizations.
Organizations such as the Commonwealth Association of Tax administrators (CATA), Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrators (CIAT), Centre de rencontre et d'études des dirigeants des administrations fiscales (CREDAF), and OECD Working Parties provide forums through which administrations with mutual concerns can discuss problems and coordinate their resolution. We provide resource people to all of these organizations on a regular basis. If the east bloc countries had a similar forum the identification of their needs and the provision of assistance could be more efficiently facilitated.
As was stated by other departments during our meeting, we have limited internal resources available to meet the requests which we receive, however, we would be pleased to do our utmost to respond.
Yours sincerely,
C. SavageA/DirectorProvincial and International Relations Division
c.c. R. Roy
c.c. K. Hillier
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