The ninth and tenth National Policy Dialogues (NPDs) under the Finnish funded WCO ESA Project ‘Building Trade Capacity through Customs Modernization in the East and Southern Africa Region’ was held between the 9thand 12th September 2014 in Mozambique and Rwanda, respectively.
The host of the meeting in Maputo was Mr. Guilherme Mambo, the Director General of Mozambique Customs who noted the importance of Coordinated Border Management not only to the Mozambique Government but also for the competitiveness of the private sector. The Commissioner General of the Rwanda Revenue Authority, Mr. Richard Tusabe, appreciated the capacity building support of the WCO for his organization’s modernization programme and expressed the belief that the Dialogue and additional follow-up will augment the gains already made by the Rwandan Government on coordinated border management.
The National Policy Dialogues, which are expected to cover most of the countries in the East and Southern Africa region, are widely seen as one of the tools that enhance coordinated border management and support for Customs modernization in participating countries. Together with Top Management Dialogues and Study Visits, the policy dialogues bring together both Government agencies and the private sector to develop structured consultative mechanisms and to engage in a process to work towards coordinated border management.
The policy dialogues were facilitated by the WCO Director of Capacity Building, Mr. Erich Kieck, with the support of Finnish Customs Expert Mr. Mika Poutiainen and Mr Abdul Bonaya of the ROCB based in Kenya.