The Ministry of Finance stated that, the delegation led by Mr. Kaleb Udui, Jr., the Minister of Finance from Palau (hereinafter referred to as Minister Udui), visited Taiwan from June 6th to 10th in 2023. On June 8th, a bilateral meeting between Finance Ministers was hosted by Minister Chuang, Tsui-Yun, to discuss Palau's comprehensive tax reform initiatives, long-term digital solutions for tax administration, and Taiwan's experience in promoting public participation in infrastructure development, along with other fiscal and taxation issues. This is the very first ministerial-level meeting since the signing of the Agreement on Public Finance Cooperation between the two countries in October 2022, marking a significant milestone in their long-term substantive fiscal cooperation.
The Ministry of Finance further elaborated that, in order to strengthen its fiscal foundation and enhance the domestic resource mobilization, Palau has commenced comprehensive tax reform. Starting from 2023, Palau has begun to implement goods and services tax (GST) and business profit tax for the first time and plans to build a digital information system to improve the efficiency of its tax administration. During Minister Udui's visit to Taiwan, the delegation exchanged experiences with tax authorities including Taxation Administration, National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, and National Taxation Bureau of the Northern Area on Taiwan's value- added tax (VAT) policy with practical experience. The Financial Information Agency also shared Taiwan's experience in building tax information systems and how it utilizes emerging technologies to transform data into knowledge to enhance the efficiency of tax administration and services. Finally, the delegation visited the Training Institute to know more about Taiwan's experiences and achievements in financial personnel training.
The Palau Ministry of Finance also supervises digital residency, digital government, and Fin-Tech services. During this visit to Taiwan, Minister Udui also met with Audrey Tang, the Minister of Digital Affairs, and Jean Chiu, Vice Chairperson of the Financial Supervisory Commission, to discuss digital residency, digital signatures and mutual recognition, Fin-Tech, electronic payments, virtual banks, as well as ICT security policies and development experiences.
The Ministry of Finance noted that, under the framework of the Agreement on Public Finance Cooperation, both sides will continue the exchange on fiscal and treasury policies, taxation and customs cooperation, public assets management, and promotion of private participation in infrastructure. Both sides' substantive and cooperative partnership will be expanded and deepened with the achievement of fiscal sustainability goals jointly.
Contact person: Ms. Tammy Yu-Hsuan Wang, Section Chief
Contact Number: (02)2322-8183