International President's Goodwill Tour of Asia.

In November 2013, the Asia Chapter was privileged and delighted to host the first-ever visit of TEI's International President and other senior leaders of the organization. The TEI delegation, which included Teri Wielenga, Patrick Evans and Katrina Welch, was welcomed to Singapore by our planning committee, Lisa Zheng (Proctor & Gamble), Sharon Tan (Nike), Bill Husthwaite (Shell) and Bob Lider (JPMorgan). Our Chapter President, Damien Henneken (Morgan Stanley), also joined us in Singapore for our scheduled events, which included a full agenda of networking, education, and advocacy.

On the morning of day one, our TEI delegation met with senior directors of the Tax Academy of Singapore. This organization is sponsored and managed by the Internal Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and serves as one of the leading forums for tax training in Singapore. The Asia Chapter has proudly co-sponsored the Tax Academy's periodic U.S. tax training course, which unites leading local tax practitioners from the Big 4 with Asia Chapter Board members to participate in panel discussions. Teri, Patrick and Katrina were pleased to learn about our Asia Chapter's collaboration with the Tax Academy, and significant contribution to the education of local tax practitioners in Singapore.

In the afternoon of day one, the TEI delegation met with senior Singapore government officials representing the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development Board, IRAS, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Institute of Engineers, and the Maritime and Port Authority. The meeting was hosted by our platinum sponsor, PwC, and took place in PwC's board room. Teri thanked PwC for hosting the meeting and welcomed the opportunity to introduce TEI to a new generation of Singapore government officials. In her introductory remarks, Teri identified education as one of TEI's three pillars and recounted our successful meeting earlier in the day with the Tax Academy, as well as the tax training events that the Asia Chapter sponsors throughout the year. On advocacy, another TEI pillar, Teri cited the formation of the International Tax Advisory Task Force and how TEI intends to use it as a platform for engagement with government officials.

Teri and Patrick both emphasized that TEI's principal advisory focus was on issues impacting tax administration, rather than industry-specific tax issues. The Singapore government officials were interested to hear TEI's views on the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit...