CAGP working visit on Fiscal Transfer Payments completed

In April, World Wide successfully managed the Australian Working Visit on Fiscal Transfer Payments, another program funded by AusAID under the China Australia Governance Program. The objective of the working visit was to familiarise senior officials of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China with the policy and operational issues arising from the system of intergovernmental financial relations in Australia. The ten visiting officials (pictured here in Canberra) explored the wide range of issues arising from the division of expenditure responsibilities between levels of government.

The working visit involved intensive workshops under the direction of Team Leader, Mr Bob Searle, as well as site visits and presentations in Sydney and Canberra. Feedback from the delegates on all visits and presentations was extremely positive, in terms of relevance and technical content.

The delegates have now safely returned to China, where they will use the information gathered during their time in Australia to refine their thinking in preparing a background paper (in co-operation with the Fiscal and Economic Committee) to the Standing Committee of NPC by June 2007, at which time the Ministry of Finance will provide answers to 9 questions asked of it by the Standing Committee on Transfer Payment reform.

Of particular assistance to the success of the working visit was the willingness of individual presenters and organisations to participate. All delegates expressed their heartfelt appreciation of the effort that the presenters had taken to provide them with information about fiscal transfers in Australia, and for the knowledge they were able to share on individual experiences.