Under the auspices of the WCO-EAC CREATe Project financed by Sweden, the WCO supported the East African Community (EAC) to successfully hold its second regional AEO Consultative Group meeting. The meeting, which took place on 21 August 2017 in Kampala, Uganda, was attended by members of the regional Consultative Group which comprises of Customs officials; representatives of EAC regional AEOs from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; representatives of private sector regional bodies (such as the East African Business Council, and the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Association); and the EAC Secretariat.
The meeting provided the opportunity to discuss key issues such as progress towards the implementation of regional AEO Unique Identifier in Customs Management Systems, harmonization of AEO Benefits Management across the region, as well as formulating indicators to measure the time and costs reductions enjoyed by regional AEOs since joining the programme.
The members of the Consultative Group also welcomed the increase of numbers of regional AEOs (from 13 in 2013 to 46 in 2016) across the region as it demonstrates the accrued interest in such a programme among the business community in East Africa.
The Regional AEO Consultative Group was established successfully in February 2017 as a key milestone of the WCO-EAC CREATe Project. It is part of the regional AEO programme governance structure, and it plays an important role in advising and supporting the administration of the AEO programme. The objective of the Consultative Group is to effectively involve stakeholders in the management of the AEO programme in the face of the increasing recognition of the value-added of a public-private partnership approach to Customs modernization and trade facilitation initiatives. The next AEO Consultative Group meeting of the EAC is planned to take place in the last quarter of 2017.
Mr. Kenneth Bagamuhunda, EAC Director General Customs and Trade, emphasized that the AEO programme is among the best regional programmes in the world, second only to the European Union programme, and thanked the WCO and Sweden for their continued support to this programme. He further noted marked improvements in EAC Partner States in trading across borders as reported in the recent World Bank Doing Business Report.
For more information about this activity or the project, please contact the WCO-Sweden Programme Director, Mr. Richard Chopra (Richard.chopra@wcoomd.org)