International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) Joins the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Member 52
USUBC, Washington, DC
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Executive Committee of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) is pleased to announce it has approved the International Tax and Investment Council (ITIC), Washington, has been approved as the 52nd member.

USUBC has been working with Dan Witt, President, Washington and Alexander Savitsky, Kyiv, head of the Ukraine office, regarding membership. Dan informed us last week that the ITIC would like to be a member of the USUBC.

The International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) is an independent nonprofit research and education foundation with offices in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The ITIC is a member of the U.S.-Russia Business Council.

Organized in 1993, the ITIC serves as a clearinghouse for tax and investment policy information, and as a training institute for key policy makers in the former Soviet Union and other transition economies. Some have compared the ITIC to a "private-sector version of the IMF or OECD."

The ITIC has been active in Ukraine for several years and just recently have expanded their program in Ukraine.

In late September ITIC, 2007, ITIC hosted the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance delegation at the EU Excise Taxation Conference in The Hague.  ITIC was in Kyiv the week following the conference to discuss many of these issues with the Ministry of Finance and representatives from the major political parties who were re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada on September 30.

The Cabinet of Ministers has officially finished its drafting of the new Tax Code and it was approved by the incumbent Government on October 17.  The proposed legislation was officially registered in the Rada on October 30.
It is expected to be one of the very first items on the new Rada's agenda.

ITIC has been in active discussions with senior officials in the incumbent Ministry of Finance.  Also, ITIC was contacted by several senior officials from the two political parties who are expected to form the Government.

Specifically, ITIC was requested to bring a high-level team to meet with the Ukrainian leaders to discuss Ukraine's tax reform priorities and to provide consultations to the officials who are expected to take a senior economic position in the Government, and the key Committee chairmanships in the Rada. ITIC is continuing these discussions, and expect to organize such program in the near future.

Currently, ITIC is working with several analysts in Kyiv to prepare a "Tax Reform Priority Issues Paper."

Additional information about the ITIC can be found on their website:
http://www.iticnet.org.