As part of its Mercator multi-year collaboration with Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to support the implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the WCO conducted a mission to take stock of and monitor the activities rendered under the framework of the United Kingdom’s Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Trade Facilitation Capacity Building Programme. The mission  supported by a Mercator Programme Advisor of the Lesotho Revenue Authority, took place from 30 March to 6 April 2022 and served to identify progress achieved in the past years while also discussing challenges faced in the context of the COVID pandemic. Moreover, opportunities for further collaboration and capacity building under the next phase of the HMRC ‘Accelerate Trade Facilitation’ Pogramme (April 2022 - April 2025) were identified.

During meetings with different LRA units, considerable progress was noted especially towards implementing TFA Article 7.4 on Risk Management in relation to improved efficiency of targeting the inspections goods and shipments. Other technical areas where progress has been made include Time Release Study (Article 7.6), Air Cargo Streamlining related to Expedited Shipments (TFA Article 7.8), and the LRA’s Compliance Trader Programme (TFA Article 7.7). The WCO delegation also engaged with representatives of the Liberia National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) to take stock of the progress made on a national level with regard to TFA implementation. The NTFC has been supported by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) – the WCO’s strategic partner under the ‘Accelerate Trade Facilitation’ Programme. Furthermore, a visit was made to the Freeport of Monrovia, where approximately 85% of the international trade of Liberia is processed. In terms of organizational development, the LRA is implementing a competency based human resource management approach in line with WCO standards, as well as performance management which significantly helps the administration in managing and retaining talents, as well as identifying and targeting training needs.

It was noted that important progress has been made to advance gender equality and diversity (GED) under the framework of the LRA’s Gender Equality Working Group. The working group has started initiatives to mainstream gender equality within the administration and developed a draft action plan for gender equality building on the outcomes of a WCO led gender equality and diversity organizational assessment, as well as a WCO led GED remote training that was conducted for the LRA in December 2021. As part of the mission, the team also met with representatives of women cross-border traders to better understand the particular challenges they face with the aim to improve Customs services and enhance compliance. 

The WCO looks forward to continue collaborating with the LRA to further enhance Liberia’s TFA implementation under the framework of the Mercator Programme – strengthening the LRA’s capacity to facilitate trade and revenue collection in an effective way.

Additional information on the ‘Accelerate Trade Facilitation’ Programme can be found here.

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