Tunisian Customs, government and business stakeholders hold talks with the WCO Secretary General

20 November 2009

Tunisian Customs, government and business stakeholders hold talks with the WCO Secretary General

18 to 19 November 2009

Report

At the invitation of Director General Slimen Ourak of Tunisian Customs, Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya met Customs and its stakeholders in Tunis on 18 and 19 November 2009.

Tunisian Customs developed and implemented a new Customs Code in close consultation with business earlier this year. The new legislation is entirely based on the WCO revised Kyoto Convention and incorporates the legal power to fight counterfeiting. A programme is underway to revamp SINDA – the Customs IT system – to meet a completely paperless environment, while using ASYCUDA World, the UNCTAD IT system, as a benchmark.

After the briefing and discussion with Customs management at their headquarters, Mr. Mikuriya visited the Port of Rades to observe the functioning of the country’s single window system known as Tunisia Trade Net. He also had a series of meetings with the Minister of Transport, the State Secretary for Trade, and the Presidents of business associations (Employers, Exporters, Transport and the Export Promotion Centre) to listen to the views of Customs stakeholders on the current performance and expectation for Customs.

Secretary General Mikuriya stated that "Through regular consultations and a good communication strategy supported by political leaders, Tunisia Customs has completely changed its spirit and approach, and has now built a mutually beneficial partnership with business and other agencies and ministries involved in border management. Its new initiative – a single border post with Libyan Customs – offers an interesting model and insight on coordinated border management for the global Customs community".