Panama City, Panama, 16-17 September 2010

Under the LAC Fiscal Initiative, the inaugural meeting of the LAC Tax Policy Forum, jointly organized with the CIAT and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama, was held in Panama City (Republic of Panama) on 16-17 September 2010.
 
The meeting focused on the role of the tax system in reducing income inequality and promoting social cohesion, and began to establish the programme of work of the LAC Tax Policy Forum for the next year, based on the tax policy issues identified as priorities by the LAC countries.
 
The meeting, held at Le Meridien Hotel in Panama, was inaugurated by the Minister of Economy and Finance of Panama, Alberto Vallarino Clément; the Deputy Director of the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration, Grace Perez-Navarro; the Head of the Americas Desk of the OECD’s Development Centre, Jeff Dayton-Johnson; the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), Márcio F. Verdi; and the Representative of the Embassy of Spain (main sponsor of the Fiscal Initiative) to Panama, Bernardo López López-Ríos.
 
It was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Finance and/or Tax Administration of 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries, and various national and international organizations like the ECLAC, Getulio Vargas Foundation of Brazil, the IADB, the ICEFI of Guatemala, the IEF of Spain, the IMF, France’s ADETEF, and USAID, in addition to the OECD and CIAT.