WCO shares Capacity Building approach with African Revenue and Tax Agencies
(Photo: Erich Kieck, WCO Director for Capacity Building, pictured with Oupa Magashula, the Chair of ATAF and Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service and Mr Sudhamo Lal, the Commissioner General of the Mauritius Revenue Authority)
The WCO Secretariat was invited to share its approach towards Capacity Building at the 1st General Assembly of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF). The meeting was held from 24 to 25 July 2011 in Mauritius and brought together the heads of revenue and tax administrations from across the African continent. The mission of ATAF is to develop the capacity of African tax administrations to meet their revenue objectives and the theme of the General Assembly was “The International and Domestic Aspects of Tax Fraud, Evasion and Avoidance”. Erich Kieck, the Director for Capacity Building of the WCO, delivered a keynote speech on “Capacity Building in Africa – The Customs Experience”. He shared with the General Assembly the WCO’s capacity building approach and programme and also focused on the 3P approach of People, Political Will and Partnerships.
After the ATAF meeting, Erich Kieck attended the Regional Conference of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in Johannesburg, South Africa on 29 July 2011. The Conference was opened by Dr R Davies, the Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa, and Ms T Moremi, the Executive Secretary of SACU, who referred to the SACU / WCO / SIDA Customs and Trade Facilitation programme and the objectives pursued under this programme aimed at enhanced Customs-to-Customs and Customs-to-Business cooperation.