Hosting economic competitiveness workshop in next October UAE to participate in WCO meetings Abu Dhabi- FCA- 26 June 2013: The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) will participate as a representative of the United Arab Emirates in the World Customs Organization 3-day meetings on this Thursday at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The FCA participated Wednesday in the 38th meeting of customs directors general in North Africa, Near East, and Middle East. The UAE is keen to make effective contribution to the WCO meetings given its vital role in the world trade as the number-one trade gateway to the GCC and Middle East countries, said Khalid Al Bustani, FCA Acting Director General. Participating in such meetings, the UAE aims to boost cooperation with the outside world and contribute to decision making in customs work at the world level. This will ultimately facilitate trade and maintain and protect society security against smuggling, cheating and counterfeiting risks, Al Bustani said. The WCO meetings, he said, will consider the nomination of the WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya for a second term in the absence of other nominees from the member states. The meetings will also consider recommendations of the WCO different committees and approve such recommendations that are agreed upon. The WCO member states will discuss the studies and activities to be conducted including an economic competitiveness workshop to be hosted by the UAE for North Africa, Near and Middle East countries next October, he said. The UAE delegation will seek to hold many bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the meetings held with customs directors general at member states to discuss the mutual cooperation issues in customs business, said the FCA Acting Director General. With a delegation headed by FCA Acting Director General Khalid Al Bustani, the UAE participated in the 38th meeting of the customs directors general of North Africa and Near and Middle East countries, held on the sidelines of the WCO meetings yesterday. The meeting has discussed customs cooperation issues between the region countries and how to improve the customs performance in these countries to address the challenges facing the world trade, Al Bustani said. It also covered the action plan of the regional capacity building office in the North Africa and Near and Middle East region. The UAE delegation discussed with the representatives of regional capacity building office the latest developments in the customs business and the ways to boost cooperation in application of state of the art programs to improve the UAE customs efficiency, he said. They also discussed ways to implement the agreed recommendations for the diagnostic task of the WCO which visited the UAE customs ports last year. The UAE delegation consisted of Suoud Salem Al Agroobi, FCA Head of International Relations Department and Talal Abdullah ibn Masud Al Ali, FCA International Relations Administrator.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 06:48:27 +0000