In pursuance of the WCO National Mercator Plan for Sudan, designed to provide sustainable, tailor-made and results-based capacity building support to enable effective implementation of the Trade Facilitation agenda, the WCO organized a 5-day training workshop to strengthen Sudan Customs Authority’s capacities in Time Release Study (TRS). The workshop was held in Khartoum from 30th July to 3rd August 2017 and was delivered in the framework of the WCO-HMRC-UNCTAD Project.

In his opening remarks, Major General Dr. Bashir Eltahir Bashir, Director General of Sudan Customs Authority, highlighted the importance of TRS in identifying bottlenecks in the clearance process and expressed his desire that participants utilize the opportunity provided by the WCO TRS Training Workshop to get a sound grasp of the WCO TRS tool in order to evaluate the effectiveness of clearance procedures and to design and monitor the implementation of the trade facilitation measures with an aim to reduce transaction costs and expedite the flow of import-export goods in Sudan.

The Workshop brought together nearly 45 managers and executives from different functional areas of Customs from major ports, airports and land border posts; representatives of trade bodies, importers, Transport Agency, Customs brokers, Chamber of Shipping Agencies, Seaport Corporation, Sudanese Standards and Meteorology Organization, Central Bank of Sudan, Plant Quarantine, Veterinary, Food Safety, Health officials, Drug and Pharmaceutical officials of Sudan. The main objective of the Workshop was to enhance the internal capacity of all stakeholders concerned with import-export from all government agencies, private sector, logistics operators etc. in Sudan so that they can conduct a TRS in the country on their own and prepare a strategically targeted TRS communications product to build consensus for the much-needed coordinated border management reforms.

The WCO Experts presented various WCO instruments, tools and best practices in the context of trade facilitation that provide guidance and assist cross-border regulatory agencies and other trade partners in developing effective operational procedures in the clearance process of imports and exports of goods. Experts explained the TRS concept and the whole TRS exercise from the stage of setting up a working group, processes involved and outcome of the study, supported by case studies from different countries, highlighting bottlenecks identified and the trade facilitation initiatives taken based on TRS recommendations. In addition, the WCO experts facilitated workshop participants to learn the techniques of Business Process Mapping and Analysis through theoretical sessions and through a practical walkthrough of the whole clearance operations at the dry port in Khartoum.

All participants, having been well versed with the WCO TRS methodology in this workshop, expressed their desire to conduct a national TRS in Sudan starting from the stage of arrival of vessel/container at Sudan Port till the final release from dry port in Khartoum. They also prepared a Business Process Map and a draft Work Plan for consideration of Sudan Customs Authority. Participants also recommended that all stakeholders concerned with import-export from all government agencies, private sector, logistics operators etc. should be involved in the conduct of future TRS. Additionally, Sudan Customs Authority also showed keen interest in utilizing the Business Process Mapping and Analysis techniques of TRS to help in BPR exercises for Single Window conceptualization in Sudan.

The WCO training workshop on TRS enjoyed great success and significantly enhanced the capacity of all economic operators, trade partners to promote trade facilitation in Sudan, thus improving country’s economic competitiveness. The quality of discussions through the Workshop highlighted the strong level of interest shown by participants in WCO TRS tool and its role in stakeholder engagement, coordinated border management and conceptualization of Single Window.