To assist with the Customs Administration of Namibia’s endeavours to successfully engage its stakeholders in the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the WCO delivered a 5-day Workshop on stakeholder engagement in Windhoek, Namibia from 28 August to 1 September 2017, to support Namibia’s National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF). The training course was delivered by two WCO experts, with the financial support of the Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF) Korea. It was attended by 18 participants from Namibia’s Customs Authority, other government agencies and the private sector.
The opening address was delivered by Ms. Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Trade Forum (NTF), who generously hosted the event. She expressed her appreciation to the donor country and the WCO for supporting Namibia’s efforts in the area of trade facilitation implementation. She highlighted the importance of this training programme for the NCTF, in terms of enhancing its stakeholder engagement and Coordinated Border Management efforts. She added that the Namibia Trade Forum, as the Secretariat of Namibia’s NCTF, was committed to ensuring effective engagement with all trade facilitation stakeholders. The Workshop would ensure that the NCTF’s goals of ensuring effective implementation of the TFA and enhancing international trade at the borders would be achieved.
The 5-day WCO Workshop on stakeholder engagement in the context of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) included several presentations and intensive group exercises addressing the different phases of the consultation process, with a view to raising awareness of the importance of stakeholder engagement and enhancing the NCTF members’ skills in the area of conducting successful consultations.
At the end of the Workshop, the participants expressed their appreciation to the WCO and the facilitators for delivering the training. They also reassured the facilitators that the knowledge they had acquired during the sessions would be shared and practised in their day-to-day duties and continued efforts to support the implementation of the TFA.