Under the auspices of the WCO-Norad project (funded by the Norwegian government), three Risk Management (RM) seminars were successfully delivered in the cities of Nampula, Manica and Inhambane in Mozambique from 24th April to 02th May 2017.
The seminars imparted information about the new MRA RM Framework, RM Handbook and RM Procedures Guide that have been developed collaboratively with the WCO by the MRA RM Training Team, consisting of representatives from the Directorate of Audit Investigation and Intelligence (DAII).
Each seminar was well attended by senior Customs managers and Customs officers as well as staff from the MRA Internal Tax Directorate. The topics covered included RM awareness raising from both a strategic context and an operational context and discussions were focused on the benefits of a risk-based approach and the importance of information and intelligence to inform targeted interdiction activity.
The seminars also highlighted MRA’s response from a support perspective in developing comprehensive RM operational guidance documents at a practical level.
Participants were also informed of the recent establishment of the MRA RM Committee as a discussion and guidance forum for RM perspective, which in the longer term should also include external stakeholder (officials from other related public/private sector entities).
Furthermore, on the 03rd May 2017 there took place a joint Workshop with MRA to raise awareness among all nominated regional Points of Contact (PoC’s) for Risk Management to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities and are fully equipped to take forward the implementation of MRA’s new Risk Management Framework.
In conclusion, the three regional RM Seminars resulted in the successful delivery of the RM related documents and in the identification of a number of additional Regional RM PoC’s. The Regional PoC’s Workshop developed their roles and responsibilities in the context of a Regional RM approach that will assist DAII in driving forward the whole RM agenda within MRA.