Beijing's Huangyuan Hotel hosted a high-level forum Capacity Building to Support Pro-Poor Fiscal Reform in China and Local Fiscal Capacity Building on April 16, an annual taxation forum organized as part of a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sponsored project Promoting Capacity Building to Support Pro-Poor Fiscal Reform in China.

The forum was a follow-up to a 2006 forum Capacity Building to Support Pro-Poor Fiscal Reform in China and Building a New Socialist Countryside. This year's theme focused on the problems and challenges of pro-poor fiscal reform during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), with particular emphasis on building local government fiscal capacity.

In keeping with the spirit of the 17th CPC National Congress, the forum discussed how to improve the fiscal capacity of local government while realizing poverty-reduction goals and constructing a harmonious society. More than 120 representatives from central and local governments, Chinese and foreign academic institutions and other organizations gave incisive speeches, made acute observations and engaged in lively discussion.

The forum was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and UNDP, and received support from the ADB, IMF, UNICEF and AUSAID and other international organizations.

The ongoing project is jointly funded by UNDP, DFID, implemented by MOF and SAT, and executed by the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), a department of the Ministry of Commerce. The project is now in its third year and has made significant progress in assisting China reform fiscal policy, solving problems in the fiscal and taxation field, and improving fiscal management capacity in less developed regions.

(China.org.cn April 16, 2008)