The WCO and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) led a new C-RED ("Customs: against Epidemic Diseases” funded by the Government of the Netherlands) mission of national assistance which involved several Officials from the Republic of Guinea. The mission was held in Conakry from 11 to 14 October 2018, with the support of the project focal point in Guinea, and aimed at finalizing a draft operational guide describing the procedure for importing relief goods, for the attention of customs and humanitarian operators. This draft guide was prepared after two previous missions held in Conakry in July and October 2017. It has been prepared in close collaboration with the Gendarmerie, the Police, the Civil Protection, the National Agency for Health Safety, the “Standard and Quality Service”, the “Territory Management Authority”, the “National Service for Humanitarian Action”, and representatives of MSF, WFP, UNICEF and WHO in Guinea.

In addition, the mission led to a simulation exercise of clearance of a parcel at Conakry International Airport, under similar conditions as in an emergency situation. This exercise yielded many lessons, which resulted in a partial revision of the draft guide. In order to ensure the widest possible dissemination of this guide, the experts mandated by the WCO, assisted by a trainer from Guinean Customs, gave a training of trainer session to trainers of the different involved Authorities. It included teaching the prerequisites and training techniques that should be used for future trainings on the operational guide.

This mission proved to be very fruitful in that it enabled the various stakeholders to exchange, to improve existing procedures and to lay the groundwork for strengthening cooperation between the Customs, other Government Agencies and Humanitarian actors in Guinea.

For further information on the C-RED Project, you may contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org. On this event, you may also visit the Guinean Customs webpage: http://dgd.gov.gn/2018/09/17/projet-c-red-omddouanes-face-aux-maladies-epidemiques-seminaire-de-formation-des-formateurs-du-11-au-14-septembre-2018-a-conakry-republique-de-guinee-hotel-riviera/