Background

In 2019, at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Finance of Laos, Mongolian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Accounting Standards Board of Nepal, External Reporting Board of New Zealand, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants, Association of Syrian Certified Accountants, Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, and National Accounting Council of Cambodia (hereinafter referred to as the Participants) jointly released the “Initiative on Promoting Accounting Standards Cooperation among Participating Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative” (hereinafter referred to as the Initiative). In accordance with the principle of “achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration”, we take “The Belt and Road” National Accounting Standards Cooperation Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Cooperation Forum) as a platform to jointly promote cooperation on accounting standards. Delegates from accounting standards-setting bodies of countries including China, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia had a discussion on interactions within the Cooperation Forum on 8 November 2019. The following arrangements have been proposed through consultations among the Participants of the Initiative.

Ⅰ. Our aim and goals

The Participants of the Initiative will strengthen technical discussion, information exchange, and experience sharing in the field of accounting standards, and promote the setting of accounting standards and the enhancement of capacity, so as to contribute to the development of high-quality global accounting standards, and create a good accounting environment for economic and trade exchanges and capital flows between these jurisdictions.

1. Technical information exchanges. We will strengthen technical discussions on accounting standards, exchange views, and coordinate positions to jointly address challenges encountered in the setting of the national accounting standards.

2. Policy promotion. To facilitate economic and trade exchanges and capital flows, we will share information on each jurisdiction’s accounting standards and promote implementation and supervision of relevant accounting standards, etc. to one another.

3. Capacity building. We will discuss ways for improvement the capacity building of accounting standards including best solutions for training, where appropriate.

4. Cooperative research. We will promote researches on technical accounting standard issues, where appropriate.

II. Mechanism of cooperation

Holding the Cooperation Forum on a regular basis will be the main exchange and cooperation method for the Participants of the Initiative. The Participants of the Initiative are encouraged to hold bilateral or multilateral cooperation and information exchanges under the framework of the Initiative, and to carry out bilateral or multilateral capacity building and other programmes as needed.

1. The Cooperation Forum will be held once every year for the near term.

2. We encourage the Participants of the Initiative to apply to host the Cooperation Forum. If no Participant applies, the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China will be responsible for organizing the Cooperation Forum.

3. The organizer of the Cooperation Forum shall provide the relevant fees for the conference venue, related facilities and conference services. The travel expenses, accommodation, and other expenses of the Participants of the Initiative attending the Cooperation Forum shall be borne by themselves.

4. The Cooperation Forum carries out activities by focusing on the above four goals, and topics raised by the majority of the Participants of the Initiative. In order to make the activities of the Cooperation Forum more targeted and effective, the Cooperation Forum will formulate a work plan and regularly update it according to the opinions of the Participants of the Initiative. The work plan shall be approved by and issued to the Participants of the Initiative. After the Cooperation Forum, a meeting communiqué shall be published with the consent of the participating delegates.

III. Operational procedures

1. The Cooperation Forum is open-ended and interested parties who are willing to join the Initiative may participate in the meetings of the Cooperation Forum.

2. Each meeting of the Cooperation Forum is chaired by the Chair for the meeting. The Chair for the meeting is the head or designated personnel of the accounting standards-setting body of the hosting jurisdiction. The duty of the Chair for the meeting will terminate by itself after the end of the meeting of the Cooperation Forum.

3. A Liaison Office will be established to take the responsibilities of liaison and communication between the Participants of the Initiative within the Cooperation Forum. The Liaison Office is mainly responsible for the following tasks.

l Drafting and updating the work plan, summarizing the implementation of the work plan, and submitting it to the Participants of the Initiative for review;

l Assisting the forum organizer to organize the meeting of the Cooperation Forum;

l Conducting preliminary research and proposals for the technical issues raised by the Participants of the Initiative, as well as opinions and suggestions concerning the Cooperation Forum, and submitting them to all Participants of the Initiative for discussion;

l Establishing the Initiative’s related webpages and being responsible for daily maintenance;

l Daily liaison work such as liaison between the Participants of the Initiative, daily mail processing, and contact information updating;

l Undertaking other matters assigned by the joint decision of the Participants of the Initiative.

The Liaison Office will be located in the Research Center for the Belt & Road Financial and Economic Development (Xiamen, China).