Department of Economic and Social Affairs 
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In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Inter-American Taxation and Financial Management Center (CITAF) gave the Inter-American Course on Strengthening Direct Taxation, attended by 18 participants from 13 member states, and the Regional Course on Economic Integration and Tax Harmonization, attended by 20 participants from MERCOSUR countries and Chile and for which a total of 14 fellowships were awarded. The Regional Course on Central American Tax Harmonization was given in Costa Rica and attended by 20 participants. In The Bahamas, a regional seminar co-sponsored by the CARICOM Secretariat was held for English-speaking countries of the Caribbean and Suriname on Tax Harmonization in Developing Countries. In attendance were 40 civil servants from 13 member states, who had received OAS fellowships, and from four other territories, who were the recipients of grants from the United Kingdom. Advisory assistance on tax harmonization was provided to the governments of Argentina and Uruguay, which also received a document on Selective Consumer Taxes in MERCOSUR. Two tax experts did an analysis of the progress made in the tax harmonization process in Central America and technical recommendations and a proposal for a tax harmonization project for the subregion were presented to SIECA. National courses were given in Argentina on provincial taxation and classes and lectures were delivered at Argentine universities.
In the area of financial management, CITAF hosted the Sixth Inter-American Course on State Financial Management in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with 13 fellowship recipients attending. It also conducted the Inter-American Seminar on the Costs of University Education for purposes of managing public spending. That seminar was attended by 27 participants from 13 member states, 12 of whom had received OAS fellowships. An inter-American seminar on the costs of university education for public financial management was also conducted and attended by 27 professionals from 13 member States, 12 of whom were on OAS fellowships.
The book Costos de la Educación Universitaria para la Administración Financiera, the product of CITAF-supervised research, was published.
As for other projects executed by the Department, the fiscal survey of Grenada was completed. In St. Kitts and Nevis, the department was instrumental in setting up a data system on the agricultural sector and cooperated with the Ministry of Development in preparing the National Development Plan.
In Belize, a technical assistance project was executed in the government sector; a thorough study was done of the classification and evaluation of posts and the staff in charge of implementing the classification and evaluation system received training.