Namibia's Prime Minister assures his support for Customs reform

Namibia, 1-2 October 2012

Report

At the invitation of Namibia's Permanent Secretary of Finance, Ericah Shafudah, the Secretary General of the WCO, Kunio Mikuriya, visited Windhoek, Namibia on 1 and 2 October where he met Customs management and political leaders to discuss Customs modernization and its contribution to economic development.

The Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Bevan Simataa, and his management team gave an account of how they used WCO instruments and advice to reengineer Customs processes and improve their organizational and human resource aspects. After acceding to the Revised Kyoto Convention and implementing the General Annex, Namibia began reviewing to what extent it could accept Special Annexes to further facilitate trade. In this connection, the Secretary General explained the WCO Economic Competitiveness Package that could be used to understand where Customs reform stands. They also discussed a better way to manage human resources.

Deputy Minister of Finance Calle Schlettwein welcomed Secretary General Mikuriya and expressed his appreciation for WCO assistance in garnering support from donors, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the One Stop Border Post, Finland for risk management and coordinated border management), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for the Southern African Customs Union project. He hoped that cooperation with the WCO would continue.

The Prime Minister, Nahas Angula, received the Secretary General and appreciated his explanation on the evolving Customs role and the need to invest in Customs. He supported the 3P component of capacity building (Political will, People, Partnership) and assured the Secretary General of his political support for Customs reform.

Acting Chairman of the Public Service Commission Markus Kampungu also met the Secretary General and listened to his explanation on the human resource need for Namibia Customs. He assured Secretary General Mikuriya that the Commission was considering a more flexible approach, including the delegation of recruitment to mature government agencies and in this regard he was ready to listen to Customs' concrete proposal for human resource management.

The Secretary General took the opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Tswelopele Cornelia Moremi, with whom he signed an Memorandum of Understanding in 2009. She explained the ongoing transformation of SACU and its new focus on trade facilitation. In this connection she appreciated the cooperation with the WCO on the SACU project funded by SIDA.