President of the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine, Vice-President of the Taxpayers Association of Europe Grigol Katamadze spoke at the meeting of the General Assembly of the Taxpayers Association of Europe

At the beginning of his speech, the Vice President of the TAE, Grigol Katamadze, said: «I had to start my speech with something unpleasant — before the start of our meeting, Kyiv was again attacked by Russian missiles, several missiles were shot down by air defense forces, but two still hit two residential buildings in the very center of Kyiv.

Dear colleagues, I am sincerely glad to welcome all of you to the annual meeting of the General Assembly. It sounds very symbolic for the oldest European Association of Taxpayers — 5 years in Brussels. I sincerely congratulate everyone on the first anniversary and wish the Brussels office successful and fruitful activities. I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to speak before you,» — Grigol Katamadze addressed his colleagues.

«At the same time, I want to wish my country — Ukraine, which today is fighting for its lands, for its independence, for its freedom, for its worthy place in the European family, so that together with you in the near future we can congratulate each other on Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, and in the future we also celebrated anniversaries together,» said the President of the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine.

Next, Grigol Katamadze thematically touched on some topics, in particular::

«First of all, I want to assure everyone that you have a reliable partner and friend in Ukraine in the form of the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine.

The next very important point is that we are sincerely grateful to our European partners for the invaluable help that all EU members and the European Union in general provide us at this most difficult time in our history, and I assure you that many generations of Ukrainians will greatly appreciate it in the future. We forget the bad very quickly, but we remember the good for a very long time! Without this support of yours, without the active support of the USA and Great Britain, it would be very difficult for us to survive. We would have resisted, but the price would have been much higher.

Dear colleagues, if you have noticed, apart from a few statements at the end of February this year, I have never addressed you. Do you know why? I was waiting for this moment to address you and invite you to the post-war recovery of Ukraine, to invite you to invest in Ukraine.

Colleagues, the moment has already come when it is necessary to think very seriously about how and where to invest money in the Ukrainian economy in order to have serious dividends already within the next few years. Think about it.

I would like to note once again that you have a reliable partner in Ukraine in the form of our Association, which is ready to help you in every way if you are interested.

In conclusion, I cannot but touch on one organizational topic to which I would like to draw your attention. At the end of 2021, our Association undertook to contribute to the financing of the lease of the premises of the Brussels office. The war has prevented us from fulfilling our commitments, but from January 2023 we will do everything to start participating in the financing of the office in Brussels within the framework of our possibilities. I am an optimist, I believe in the future, so I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to the anniversary of our Association, in November 2023 we will be 25 years old, and I also propose to combine the anniversary celebration with the holding of the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Taxpayers Association of Europe in Kyiv in November 2023,» said Grigol Katamadze.

«I wish a successful meeting of the General Assembly and fruitful work for everyone!» — the President of the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine, Vice-President of the Taxpayers Association of Europe Grigol Katamadze concluded his speech with such a wish.

TAE General Secretary Michael Jaeger and TAE President Rolf von Hohenhau proposed to hold a meeting of the General Assembly in Kyiv next year in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Taxpayers Association of Ukraine, under the condition of a calmer situation on the front in Ukraine. Mr. Jaeger agreed on the relevance of the topic of investing in the Ukrainian economy, noting that it is necessary to focus efforts on creating a favorable investment climate on the part of Ukraine, creating a favorable tax environment that would allow European business to flourish in Ukraine.

The final word in the discussion was given to Mr. Rolf von Hohenhau: «I think we will see each other very soon, and I hope that the beginning of the new year will be a great new beginning for us Europeans, and I hope that all these disasters in Ukraine will end at least next year. We wish you great success in winning the war, unfortunately, we know from our experience that it is difficult to deal with the madness of Vladimir Putin, because we had the same situation with Adolf Hitler. Let’s hope that he will understand the reality and realize his actions», concluded the President of the TAE, Rolf von Hohenhau.

Next, a meeting of the members of the Taxpayers Association of Europe took place, during which there was an opening, greetings and approval of the agenda, a report of the board and auditors, approval of the board’s acts, consideration of issues related to refunds to national organizations of Slovakia and Poland, Cooperation/Networking: joining a new working group Fiscal, financial and monetary policy SME Connect.

The meeting took place constructively, in the format of a dialogue.