African Customs administrations have committed to eliminating multiple checkpoints and disparate transit fees within the region.
The administrations made the commitment at the Customs–Partnership for African Cooperation in Trade (C-PACT) conference, themed ‘Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges’, in Abuja.
This is contained in the conference`s report presented at the closing of the event by the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Deputy Comptroller-General (DCG) of Customs, Dera Nnadi, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The C-PACT was convened by the Nigeria Customs Service and Afreximbank, with support from the World Customs Organisation (WCO).
Nnadi, who is also the DCG in charge of Strategic Research and Policy at the NCS, said the they resolved to address key challenges affecting trade facilitation in the region including improving transport infrastructure and border security and enhancing customs system interconnectivity alongside cybersecurity.
He said they committed to harmonise national policies and procedures in line with African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) frameworks aimed at easing trade within the region.
The administrations, he added, resolved to adopt best practices such as the E-Certificate of Origin and Single Regional Bond.
Nnadi said the bodies committed to enhance Customs–Private Sector Partnership by fostering collaborative relationships and driving mutual solutions for trade facilitation.
This, he said, was alongside addressing soft infrastructure gaps through prioritising digitisation, harmonisation, and modernisation of customs procedures and border infrastructure.
The administrations, he said, pledged to implement trade facilitation measures such as multilingual customs documents, global commerce facilitation, holistic border facilities, and competency-based leadership.
Nnadi said the Customs administrations had also resolved to accelerate AfCFTA implementation by adopting regional Authorised Economic Operator and Mutual Recognition Agreement frameworks, enhance data sharing and build trust among regional blocs and urged of cooperation among stakeholders.
According to him, the Customs administrations will leverage WCO expertise and Afreximbank support for capacity building and infrastructural development.
“Let us work together to harmonise policies and procedures, enhance customs private sector partnership, address soft infrastructure gaps, accelerate AFCTA implementation, drive economic growth, job creation and prosperity for all Africans.
“As we conclude Customs PACT 2025, it is resolved that we reaffirm our commitment to a prosperous Africa built on the pillars of collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity.
“Let us harness the momentum of the conference to drive meaningful change, break barriers and build bridges towards a borderless and prosperous Africa,” he said.
Elaborating on the report, the NCS’s C-G, Bashir Adeniyi, stated that the administrations had reached an agreement on the next steps to implement the conference resolutions including the institutionalisation of the C-PACT.
“There is a general consensus, as we have proposed, that in terms of positioning, we are going to submit a proposal to collapse C-PACT under the Committee of Heads of Customs structure of the AfCFTA agreement.
“So, in terms of governance structure, that is the structure under which we are going to be addressing issues related to C-PACT.
“In terms of the technical part of it, we agreed that the tools and instruments that have been developed by Afreximbank will serve as starting points for us to implement.
“There are specific plans for us to bring C-PACT under the current structure of Intra African Trade Fair IATF), which has been running, so that during every session of the IATF, we are going to dedicate sessions to C-PACT, which has already been documented,” Adeniyi said.
The C-G said that teams from the AfCFTA Secretariat, NCS and Afreximbank would review the report before submitting it to the relevant structures for appropriate action.
