Two new Capacity Building Tripartite Agreements signed during the Council Sessions
- Ghana-Liberia-WCO and Sweden-Swaziland-WCO -
The WCO Council Sessions 2011 in Brussels provided the appropriate framework for the signing of two new Capacity Building Tripartite Agreements.
The first one was signed between the Liberian Bureau of Customs and Excise of the Department of Revenue, the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority and the WCO. The agreement is to formalize the already ongoing cooperation between the signing parties. The agreed cooperation program is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and will focus on capacity building activities in the area of HS2012, standard operating procedures (SOP) and integrity. The SIDA funds also provide the opportunity for a staff exchange program which will enable customs officials to gather first hand experience in sea ports, airports and land border operations.
The second Capacity Building Tripartite Agreement was concluded between the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA), the Customs Administration of Sweden and the WCO. The agreement displays the parties’ commitment to modernize customs systems and underlines the need for sustainable capacity building. Sweden will provide long-term capacity building support for the implementation of WCO standards and organizational development of the Swaziland Revenue Authority, in the areas of Post Clearance Audit, Risk Management, Intelligence/Risk Assessment, Investigation and Anti-Smuggling.
The signing of these 2 new Tripartite Agreements again proves the understanding that strengthening cooperation and partnerships between Customs administrations is a key driver behind capacity building efforts. In the context of such Tripartite Agreements, the WCO aims to provide a sustainable ground for member countries to implement global standards of Customs.