The ESCWA launched a portal called “Towards an inclusive Participatory Development in the ESCWA region”, to promote the participation of civil society and the exchange of ideas and experiences and to trigger interactive discussions. Three electronic fora were part of this portal as they aimed at promoting a dynamic civil society and tackled the following issues: “Participation in Public Policy processes”, “Media and Development” and “Social Integration: towards achieving inclusive participation in Western Asia”.

          Beirut, 11 August 2017 (Communication and Information Unit) -- UN Under-Secretary-General ESCWA Executive Secretary Mohamed Ali Al-Hakim continued this week his official visits. Al-Hakim took over his functions at the helm of the regional commission last May.
 
          In this context, Al-Hakim today visited Minister of Energy and Water César Abi Khalil on top of a delegation including Director of Sustainable Development and Policies Division Roula Majdalani and Chief of Energy Section Radia Sedaoui.
 

The idea of creating a value added tax in GCC countries is a recurrent idea that re-emerged with insistence recently. Indeed, the budgetary difficulties that GCC countries are facing in the aftermath of the 2014’s oil price chock convinced them to reform of their existing tax systems. In this regard, this study attempts to assess the economic and fiscal implication of the implementation of a 5 percent value added tax in six GCC countries.