The World Customs Organization (WCO) organized a national workshop on Coordinated Border Management (CBM) in Nassau from 24 to 28 September 2018, for all authorities concerned. This was delivered as part of a wider program of training support to the Bahamas Customs and Excise Department (BCED) under the WCO-Mercator Programme aiming to help Bahamas align with the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The Workshop was attended by 16 officials from BCED and Royal Bahamas Police Force, Department of Immigration, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Bahamas Prisons Department, Nassau Airport Development Company, Bahamas Port Department, Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Post Office Department, Nassau Container Port and Department of Environmental Health Services.
Topics discussed during the Workshop included the key concepts of the Coordinated Border Management in connection to the lately established Electronic Single Window at the Bahamas.
During the Workshop, the WCO facilitators presented the WCO instruments and tools relevant for CBM as well as the relevant WTO TFA articles related to CBM. The case studies from other countries helped the participants to understand some of the best practises around the world. Also topics like stakeholder engagement, change management and legal aspects of CBM were touched during the week. The wider understanding of each other’s functions was achieved when all different participating organisations presented their functions and connections to the border crossings at The Bahamas and to the cooperation amongst the authorities.
The workshop was found to be extremely participative and the level of discussions showed the need for such a workshop was evident.
The knowledge and experience gained from the workshop will assist the administrations when implementing the CBM in practise and will result in the future as reduced time and cost on trade facilitation as well as enhance the cooperation regarding the safety and security of The Bahamas.
For more information about this activity, please contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org