Fiji Revenue and Customs Services (FRCS) chief executive officer Visvanath Das has been appointed chairman for the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) Management Committee.

The appointment was made during the 39th Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) Management Committee meeting at Sheraton Fiji Resort and Spa, Nadi, yesterday.

This is the first time ever for a Pacific Island country to hold the position of chair, which means Fiji will now chair the CATA Management Committee for the next three years.

This meeting returned to the Pacific after 21 years.

Mr Das in his incoming speech as the chair for the CATA Management committee expressed his appreciation and gratitude for Fiji’s nomination and said he looked forward to Fiji’s term as chair and the opportunity to work with members to take CATA to new heights.

He reiterated that this was another milestone achievement for FRCS in terms of Fiji providing leadership towards an international organisation such as CATA with 46 member countries and that Fiji was yet again ready to make another impactful contribution on the international stage.

Mr Das also emphasised that his focus as chair would not just be about meeting member needs today but ensuring preparedness of administrations for the future.

He added this was particularly with emerging issues such as technology, big data, artificial intelligence, base erosion and profit shifting and addressing the key challenges around resilience and sustainability of Tax Administrations whilst modernising and future proofing administrations.

The CATA conference will officially open today and will run for four days and will cover nine technical sessions to discuss important policy and technical issues of current, concern to member tax administrations.