From Mar. 15th to Mar. 20th, 2014, the Korean research team, led by Dr. Ho Yul Chung (Senior Advisor, the former chairman of the Korea Fair Trade Commission), successfully held the Final Reporting Workshop and Senior Policy Dialogue in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Officials from the Ministry of Finances (MOF) and Prime Minister’s Office and other stakeholders related to each research topic, along with the Korean Ambassador and Counselor, attended the Final Reporting Workshop. During the workshop, research results on the following six sub-topics were presented: 1) The History of Korean Economic Development; 2) Overview: Development Financing and Tax Reform in DRC; 3) Reform of Tax System and Tax Administration to Support Economic Development of DRC; 4) Modernization of DRC’s Customs Administration; 5) Computerization of DRC’s Tax Administration; 6) Reform of DRC’s Non-Tax Revenue Administration.
Before the seminar, the Korean research team paid courtesy calls to Prime Minister and Minister of MOF to share the objectives of the KSP and asked for participation in the seminar and overall completion of the project. This Dissemination seminar was to reflect the result of 2013 KSP toward practical policies and make an evaluation about the project. Most participants in the seminar agreed with the necessity of the DRC’s development accompanied by reform and computerization of tax administration
The Senior Policy Dialogue mainly involved discussions on policy recommendations made by the Korean research team, and policy-makers from Ministry of Finances and Office of Prime Minister expressed their strong interest and enthusiasm for Tax administration and system reforms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The participants from the DRC also indicated their need for computerization of tax administration for the upcoming KSP and requested further cooperation between the two countries in connection with economic development in the DRC
In addition to the final reporting workshop and the senior policy dialogue, as the Advisory committee of Prime Minister’s Office and National Assembly had great interest in Korea as well as the KSP project, they invited the Korean project manager to present the main idea for development by sharing the Korean experiences of development. They showed a deep interest in the final research findings and policy recommendations and looked forward to having more chances to learn the Korean development experience.
The final research findings of 2013 KSP with the DRC is expected to be published soon and distributed for more readers.
