(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
The Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) at Qatar University College of Business and Economics (QU-CBE) hosted its first annual conference on 'Fiscal Policy and Economic Development - Fiscal Sustainability and Diversifying of Government Revenues on December 11-12.
Organised in collaboration with Qatar Financial Center (QFC) Authority, the event drew the participation of a large number of international economists and tax experts and professionals. It aimed to discuss the importance of diversifying government revenues, the appropriate design of VAT law and the current situation of tax compliance in Qatar.
It also aimed to identify the importance of restructuring the tax system in Qatar, to assess the current situation of tax administration and the challenges to manage VAT, and to raise community awareness about the new government policies, as well as to encourage research in the area of fiscal policy.
Attendees included QU President, Dr Hassan Al Derham, QFC Authority CEO, Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, CBE Dean, Dr Khalid Shams M A Al-Abdulqader, and CFE Director, Dr Mahmoud Abdellatif, as well as CBE faculty, staff and students.
Keynote speakers were Mario Mansour (International Monetary Fund), Prof Rick Krever (University of Western Australia), Michael Evans (University of Melbourne), Prof Jeyapalan Kasipillai (Monash University), and Prof Binh Tran-nam (University of New South Wales). They discussed issues related to the way to diversify government revenues and the need of tax reform, drafting challenges of VAT law, how does tax administration successfully manage VAT, and how to improve tax compliance.
The event's program featured four panel discussions titled 'Tax policy and tax reform in developing countries and Qatar, 'Determinants for drafting value added tax (VAT) law in Qatar, 'Tax administration in GCC countries and the challenges to manage VAT, and 'How to develop a tax compliance culture in Qatar. It also included a roundtable discussion on VAT and banking transactions.
In his remarks, Dr Hassan Al Derham said: 'QU is committed to fulfil the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030. This is reflected through its new strategy (2018-2022) which includes numerous pillars such as driving education and research excellence and improving quality and social engagement while addressing socio-economic needs, generating general policies that address the main challenges faced by the government and society, playing a crucial role in the development of national human capital towards an innovation-based economy, and improving work efficiency while achieving financial independence.
Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida said: 'Now more than ever, it is important that we push forward on our ambitions to diversify our economy, continue to expand our economic and trade relations and look for new ways to source revenue for our economy. Reforms such as VAT will help generate revenue and move us away from being an oil dependent economy.
Dr Khalid Shams, M A Al Abdulqader, said: 'The fluctuations in oil and gas prices and global financial markets require the establishment and implementation of a financial policy covering government costs and revenues, as well as the diversification of government revenues in order to maintain the level of costs and ensure the provision of public services to the current and future generations.
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