KIMEP Professor Tomas Balco shared his expertise at the Nineteenth Tax Conference on International Model Tax Treates for the Central West and East Asian regions, hosted in October 2011 by the ADB Institute in Tokyo. He teamed up with Michael Lennard, Chief of International Tax Cooperation at the Tax and Trade Section of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to deliver a presentation on the role United Nations Model Tax Convention and related tax treaties.

Prof. Balco also delivered an ad hoc overview of Kazakhstan’s tax treaty network, since other representatives from Kazakhstan were not in attendance.

The conference was attended by tax treaty negotiators, policy makers and experts from across Asia. Among the other guests were a number of long-time friends of CATRC. These included Richard Krever, Director of the Monash University Taxation Law and Policy Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia who is also a member of CATCR’s Advisory Council. Also in attendance was Catherine Brown, professor of law at the University of Calgary in Canada and a visiting research fellow at CATRC. During her recent stint at CATRC, Dr. Brown lectured for KIMEP students as part of the the Permanent Establishment Colloquium.

Said Professor Balco: “I was happy to participate due to several reasons – the event allowed to see some old friends, while making new contacts and establishing some crucial relationships that will allow us to advance our research activities in the Central Asian region”.