West African Customs Chiefs Seek Longer Tenures

The instability at the head of Customs Administrations has been identified as the major obstacle for developing trade in the West African sub-region, the Directors General at helm of Customs in the region have noted.
 The DGs took the position at the just concluded 17th Conference of Directors General of Customs of the West and Central African Region of the World Customs Organization (WCO-WCA) in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

The instability at the head of Customs Administrations has been identified as the major obstacle for developing trade in the West African sub-region, the Directors General at helm of Customs in the region have noted.
 The DGs took the position at the just concluded 17th Conference of Directors General of Customs of the West and Central African Region of the World Customs Organization (WCO-WCA) in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
 They observed that the high rate of turnover at the head of Customs Administrations is responsible for the slow commercial growth of the area.
 They urged political authorities of the member countries of the region to appoint directors general for long enough terms to allow them to develop and implement long and medium term strategies that are required for the improvement of their administrations.
 The conference also resolved to collaborate closely with relevant UN Agencies in order to facilitate clearing procedures for humanitarian consignments, especially in situation of food crisis.
 The comptroller generals gathered in Cotonou on March 15 – 16, 2012 after assessing the implementation of actions contained in the matrix of the recommendations resulting from the 16th Conference of the DGs of Customs of WCO -WCA held in Kinshasa on March 10- 11, 2011.
 The Vice-Chair's and Secretariat of the WCO resolved to reflect on the relevance of inspection companies in the customs' activities within the region and ROCB to initiate a regional activity on the contribution of such companies.
 The DGs will maintain at their position, at least for 3 years, the National Correspondents of CEN and Contact Points for Capacity Building; embark on the self-assessment process initiated by the ROCB and submit the results, not later than August 31, 2012, based on the tool developed by the ROCB.