Guyana will host tax administrators, revenue commissioners, and fiscal policy experts from across the Caribbean later this month as the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA) convenes its 27th General Assembly and Technical Conference in Georgetown from July 27–31.
Hosted by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the conference will bring together representatives from COTA’s 24 member administrations, alongside regional and international partners, to examine how digital technologies, advanced data analytics, and artificial intelligence can transform tax administration and strengthen revenue collection across the Caribbean.
Held under the theme, “Future-Ready CARICOM Tax Administration – Smart, Data-Driven and AI-Enabled for Sustainable Revenue,” the conference will focus on modernising tax systems to improve compliance, enhance taxpayer services, and build more resilient revenue administrations capable of supporting sustainable economic development.
Participants will explore how emerging technologies can improve the efficiency of tax authorities while addressing the challenges posed by an increasingly digital global economy.
A key feature of the week’s programme will be a High-Level Regional Meeting on Tax and Development, organised in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other international taxation partners. The meeting will provide a strategic forum to examine opportunities and challenges facing CARICOM economies as governments adapt to evolving international tax standards and changing global business practices.
The conference comes as Caribbean governments continue efforts to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation while balancing economic competitiveness, digital transformation, and sustainable development.
COTA is one of the Caribbean Community’s specialised institutions supporting functional cooperation among member states. Established in 1971 following a meeting of Heads of Regional Tax Administrations in Saint Lucia, the organisation was created to promote efficient tax administration through training, technical cooperation, dialogue, and the harmonisation of best practices across the region. Its constitution was subsequently endorsed by regional finance ministers and accepted by Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government in 1972. Today, COTA’s work programme is executed under the auspices of the CARICOM Secretariat, with its Executive Secretary serving as an adviser to the CARICOM Secretary-General on tax administration matters.
The conference also reflects the broader objectives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which was founded by the Treaty of Chaguaramas on July 4, 1973, by four founding member states—Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Guyana’s founding Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, alongside Barbados’ Errol Barrow, Jamaica’s Michael Manley, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr. Eric Williams, played instrumental roles in establishing the regional integration movement aimed at promoting economic cooperation, coordinated development, and deeper regional unity.
COTA’s membership spans 24 tax administrations, including Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Sint Maarten.
Organisers say the Georgetown meeting underscores the region’s shared commitment to building future-ready tax administrations capable of supporting sustainable revenue generation and economic resilience throughout the Caribbean.
