From 1 to 3 June 2022 the WCO COVID-19 Project, funded by the Government of Japan, carried out a mission in Yaoundé to support Cameroon Customs in improving its ability to respond to unexpected scenarios, such as infectious diseases and natural disasters, and use digital tools for the management of inbound passengers’ Customs declarations.
Over the three days of the workshop, more than 100 Customs officers working at the main ports of entry and headquarters received intensive training on the role of Customs in disaster management and supply chain continuity. Participants learned about the most relevant WCO and international instruments and tools relevant to this area. The workshop was designed to facilitate participants’ interaction, and ample space was given to discussing the challenges related to emergency management and the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop also underlined the importance of improving operational readiness of Customs staff in responding to disasters in a well-structured way.
In collaboration with the national Customs staff, two IT training sessions were provided to Customs officers working at the international airports of Douala and Yaoundé on the use of a Mobile App developed for the COVID-19 Project for the submission of Customs declarations by inbound air passengers and the related hardware also provided by the Project. During the closing ceremony, the equipment was officially delivered by the representative of the Customs Director General to the responsible officers at the airports where the equipment will be deployed.
According to the representative of Customs Director General, the IT-solution provided by the COVID-19 Project inagurates an ambitious reform leaning on new information technologies that will certainly make it possible to improve the performance of operational services while guaranteeing the culture of data as part of the digitization of procedures in a high-performance ecosystem. Cameroon Customs warmly thanked the WCO for its continuous assistance and the Government of Japan for supporting the international Customs community and particularly Cameroon with multiple innovative programs.