The Slovak Ministry of Finance endorsed ATI Declaration 2025

The Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) members recently approved the ATI Declaration 2025 to reinforce their commitment to financing socio-economic development through domestic revenues. 

Experts from the Slovak Ministry of Finance have long been active at the international level in public finance management, including development cooperation projects focused on tax issues. Slovakia has been shaping the global debate on this topic as a development partner of the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) since 2015.

Recently, the country has committed itself to strengthen tax systems for the period 2021-2025 through the ATI Declaration 2025. Eduard Heger, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic, affirmed Slovakia’s support for it in a short video: “We see that the COVID pandemic magnified the vulnerability of public finance management, and also highlighted the importance of efficient and predictable domestic revenue mobilization. This is what makes the ATI Declaration of 2025 more significant than ever, and we are ready to renew our commitment.“ Slovakia will contribute to ATI´s global development efforts by increasing technical assistance.

QUALITY RATHER THAN QUANTITY

Slovakia and other ATI members met at the virtual ATI General Assembly toward the end of 2020 to endorse the new ATI Declaration 2025. The new 2025 Declaration does not primarily focus on the quantity of domestic revenues and official development assistance; rather, it emphasises the need to reduce inequalities, foster economic growth, advance gender equality and the protection of the environment. Based on changing priorities within the international tax and development landscape, the ATI Declaration 2025 comprises four new commitments:

  1. ATI partner countries commit to enhance domestic resource mobilisation on the basis of equitable tax policies, as well as efficient, effective and transparent revenue administrations. ATI development partners commit to support such reforms.
  2. ATI development partners collectively commit to maintain or surpass the 2020 global target level (USD 441.1 million) of cooperation for country-owned tax reforms.
  3. ATI members commit to apply coherent and coordinated policies that foster domestic resource mobilisation and combat tax-related illicit financial flows (IFFs).
  4. ATI members commit to enhance space and capacity for accountability stakeholders in partner countries to engage in tax and revenue matters.

ABOUT ATI

The Addis Tax Initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership that aims to enhance domestic revenue mobilisation in partner countries. It was initiated in 2015 during the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to support the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development. Slovakia joined the ATI in 2015 as a development partner. Since then, more than 60 developing countries, providers of development cooperation and supporting organisations have joined the initiative.

More about the Slovak Ministry of Finance and the ATI partnership here.

More about the ATI: https://www.addistaxinitiative.net/