26/09/2022 - A delegation from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) visited Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 19-20 September 2022 to discuss the Programme d'Appui à la Transition Fiscale en Afrique de l'Ouest (PATF) with stakeholders.

As part of their mission to Ouagadougou, the OECD and Global Forum experts met with PATF stakeholders including Mr Wolfram Vetter, Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation to Burkina Faso, Mr Habasso Traore, Director of Public Finance and Domestic Taxation at the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Commission, and Mr Salifou Tiemtore, Director of the Customs Union and Taxation at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, and their teams.

These technical meetings provided an opportunity to review the progress of the PATF after the first two years of implementation, and in particular the tax assistance work carried out by the OECD and the Global Forum, which includes the development of regional legislative instruments on transfer pricing, mutual assistance in tax matters and beneficial ownership, as well as capacity building of tax administrations in the sixteen jurisdictions covered by the PATF, and to discuss the next steps.

The representatives of the EU and the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions welcomed the progress of the work done by the OECD and the Global Forum, despite the COVID-19 health crisis, and the active participation of their Member States in the proposed PATF activities.

PATF aims to support the implementation of fiscal transition programmes in West Africa following the implementation of regional trade liberalisation policies. Funded by the European Union (EU), it covers the fifteen member states of the ECOWAS and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and runs from 2020-2023.

Under the PATF, the OECD and the Global Forum provide tax assistance to ECOWAS Member States and the ECOWAS and WAEMU Commissions to enable them to better combat tax base erosion, profit shifting, and illicit financial flows in order to mobilise domestic resources and improve tax transparency.

For more information, please contact gftaxcooperation@oecd.org.