History of the ATI

Original ATI Declaration

& ATI Factsheet 2015-2020

Launch of the ATI in 2015

During the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2015, the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States initiated the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) to support the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (AAAA). 

The ATI Declaration from 2015 laid out commitments for the member countries of the initiative. Concretely: 

  1. Development partners commit to collectively double technical development cooperation for domestic revenue mobilisation (DRM) by 2020.
  2. Partner countries commit to step up DRM as a key requirement for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and spurring inclusive development.
  3. All ATI members collectively commit to pursue policy coherence for development.

The progress made by member countries in fulfilling these commitments was monitored by the International Tax Compact (ITC) through annual monitoring exercises. The ATI Monitoring Reports promote peer learning through the dissemination of good practices, help identify regional and topical trends in the area of DRM, and give an outlook on planned future activities to enable effective coordination. Details about the monitoring processes and the reports from 2015-2018 are available here.

Constitution of the ATI Consultative Groups in 2018

Three consultative groups were constituted on 13 February 2018 in New York City to organise and execute activities to support the fulfilment of the three ATI commitments. The ATI Consultative Groups produce and implement an annual work plan under the leadership of a group coordinator. 

ATI post-2020 process

To redefine the role of the ATI after 2020, a task force was established in the course of the ATI/ITC Tax and Development Conference in July 2019 by the ATI Steering Committee. Following a participatory process and election, nine ATI members were mandated with representing the different constituencies of the ATI: the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the European Commission, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Madagascar, Norway, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and Oxfam. A first meeting took place face-to-face in Brussels, Belgium, in February 2020. Various rounds of virtual meetings took place in the months that followed.

The work of the ATI post-2020 Task Force culminated in the ATI Declaration 2025, which was presented to the ATI General Assembly in November 2020. The ATI Declaration 2025 is the result of a broad, participatory and inclusive process among all ATI members. As a milestone document, it reaffirms the commitment of the ATI members to implement the AAAA and reflects the importance ATI members place on DRM to finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Based on changing priorities in the international tax and development landscape, the ATI Declaration 2025 embraces four new commitments. Four ATI Consultative Groups have been established to implement activities to support the fulfilment of these commitments, building on the work undertaken by the original three ATI Consultative Groups that operated between 2018 and 2020.