A meeting of representatives of different international organizations involved in the sphere of taxation, headed by the World Bank and CIAT, was held on January 24 and 25 at the World Bank headquarters, in Washington, D.C. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss a common strategy for providing coordinated assistance to the Latin American countries, by rationalizing the resources intended for cooperation and achieving synergies.

Representatives of the World Bank Group (WBG), Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Tax Dialogue (ITD), International Tax Convention (ITC), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Office of Technical Assistance of the U.S. Treasury Department (OTA-Treasury), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Ibero-American and International Foundation for Public Administration (Eurosocial) considered ways for improving information exchange and coordinating technical assistance activities in the areas of tax policy and administration for the benefit of the Latin American countries.

During these two days, the participating organizations examined their different business models as well as the modalities for providing tax technical assistance, with a view to arriving at greater efficiency and effectiveness in their operations. Also, three discussion panels were organized. These were focused on the analysis of the following issues: identification of possible overlapping and duplications in technical assistance programs and measures to be adopted for arriving at a better coordination and division of the work, based on the comparative advantages of the different organizations providing these services; alignment of the agendas of the different institutions with the priorities and requests for assistance from the countries; and exploration of possible mechanisms for improved coordination of operations in the preparatory stages as well as on the field.

There was clear consensus on the main aspects that should serve as basis of coordinated action. These would fundamentally be the following: the need to eliminate the repetition of efforts by complementing the different models in the light of the comparative advantages of each institution; the need to undertake progressive joint actions, beginning with the information about the activities that each organization is carrying out; promoting the exchange of best practices and successful experiences in technical assistance programs involving taxation; establishing simple coordination mechanisms thereby avoiding complicated bureaucratic structures that may result in significant costs and always having as fundamental reference the collaboration and coordination efforts at the country level.