Getting ready for the 25th Forum of IOTA Principal Contact Persons (PCPs)

Ágnes Kővágó's picture
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A Preparatory Group for the 25th Forum of PCPs to be held on 20-21 February 2018 in Antwerp, Belgium had meeting in the IOTA Secretariat. The Group, consisting of PCP and shadow PCP from the host country, Belgium and the volunteering PCPs of Slovakia, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and United Kingdom, met with IOTA Secretariat on 6-7 December in Budapest. The meeting resulted in agreeing in the format and agenda of the next Forum which will be interactive, will include trainings, breakout sessions, roleplays in order to provide a good basis for a dialogue. 

The PCPs play crucial role in the functioning of IOTA and in the implementation of the work programme. They “bridge” between IOTA Secretariat and its members, the 44 tax administrations. PCPs gather once a year when they can discuss with the IOTA Secretariat the most important issues related to the common work. In order to reflect suggestions and comments from the previous PCP Forum in Tbilisi as well as for the agenda and format to be most informative and appealing to the target audience, IOTA Secretariat called for a Preparatory Group.

The meeting started with update on activities carried out by the Secretariat in the second half of 2017, the work programme for 2018 and on the action plan of the new Strategy for the first year. It was followed by the information provided by the Belgian representatives on arrangements for the Forum. Finally fruitful discussions were held on the proposed agenda and outcomes of the Forum.

The Group paid special emphasis on preparing a Forum where an open, constructive and sincere discussion takes place, therefore its format must be interactive. The draft agenda of the Forum prepared by the Group contains the most important issues which will give answers to the questions how IOTA can serve its members even better in the coming year. The Group also expressed interest in continuing this kind of cooperation as “thinking together” will help in delivering the common goals.

Photo (from left to right): Alain Perlaux Burnay and Annelies Lievens (Belgium), Wouter Schnitzler (the Netherlands), Jana Jasova (Slovakia), Mark Crawford (United Kingdom), Ilaria Petracca (Italy) and Steve Lahos (Luxembourg)