The first activity organized under the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme for Customs for the General Directorate of Malian Customs (Direction générale des Douanes maliennes) took place in Bamako, Mali from 21 to 25 October 2019. This first A-CIP mission to Malian Customs aimed to identify strategies and activities related to integrity within the institution in order to carry out an assessment to support the development of an action plan to guide the A-CIP Programme in Mali for the next four years.
The presence of the Representative of the Minister of Finance and the Director General of Malian Customs at the opening ceremony demonstrated the Malian Customs and ministry-level commitment to fight corruption and promote integrity. In their address, they both praised the implementation of the A‑CIP program and the importance of an ethical Customs to ensure the economic prosperity and security of Mali. They further encouraged all 35 senior managers, who were selected to participate in the workshop based on the ten key factors of the Revised Arusha Declaration, to actively contribute to the discussions.
In addition to the integrity-related activities conducted during the workshop, the Customs administration and the WCO experts met with key partners who have an interest in the issue of integrity in Mali, including representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Central Office for Combating Illicit Enrichment (Office central de lutte contre l’enrichissement illicite, OCLEI). The representatives of these organizations affirmed their commitment to collective action to fight corruption and promote integrity. A meeting with representatives of the private sector was also held, during which the latter welcomed this commitment by Malian Customs in terms of integrity but also encouraged them to continue to step up their reform and modernization efforts, in particular by reducing cumbersome procedures, ensuring the speedy processing of customs declarations and aiming for the complete automation of customs processes.
The WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme for Customs was launched in January 2019 and is financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). It aims to provide support to beneficiary countries in the implementation of new measures to fight corruption and promote integrity in accordance with the ten key factors of the Revised Arusha Declaration.
For more details, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.