Successful Step towards the expansion of the “Pool of Trainers” in Africa through the Master Trainer Programme on Rules of Origin

05 September 2022

The World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has been carrying out the Master Trainer Programme (MTP) on Rules of Origin (RoO) for Africa the major aim of which is to cooperate with African WCO Members to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Based on the remarkable success of MTP and taking into account the needs from Members and the importance of improving the Customs capability in the region for the implementation of AfCFTA, the WCO and the JICA agreed to expand the MTP on RoO to Cameroun, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Senegal and South Africa.

With this background, the WCO/JICA Joint Project organized a supplementary workshop from 22 to 26 August 2022 in Brussels, Belgium, and an online supplementary RoO session on 30 and 31 August 2022 for new participants (new MTP Working Group (WG) members) from the above-mentioned 5 WCO Members.

The workshop in Brussels got new WG members together and provided them with the occasion to understand and apply the fundamentals of competency-based training.  In addition, experts from the WCO and Japan Customs shared their expertise on technical aspects of RoO via their presentations and case studies.  Furthermore, Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa, Deputy Secretary General of the WCO, had a dialogue with new WG members, where he encouraged them and expressed WCO’s expectation regarding their future work as qualified trainers to respond to the demand for capacity building activities from Members.

At the online session, new WG members worked on advanced case studies on RoO which deepened their practical knowledge on the origin determination.

New WG members will be invited to Working Group 3 which will be held in September and October 2022 in their respective regions.

All the efforts and exchanges provided by new WG members seem very promising for the progress of the MTP and for the acceleration of AfCFTA implementation in entire Africa.

For more information, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.