The African Development Bank, with the support of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC) brought together 40 customs officials from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad for training to strengthen customs capacity. The training is intended to modernize and reform the sector.
Countries in Africa's Sahel and other interior regions face several economic challenges: lack of direct access to sea ports, inefficient infrastructure, transport and logistics costs that represent up to 70% of production costs, all of which affect their performance on international markets.
For the African Development Bank, part of the solution lies in leveraging synergies including regional integration, trade and transport facilitation. There is also a need to build the capacity of government departments and agencies that oversee trade, such as customs.
Led by two independent customs experts, the training provided insight on strategic and risk management, which a modern customs administration needs to master in order to implement facilitation measures and international agreements such as the revised Kyoto Convention (2006) or the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (2013).
To lend a practical aspect to the training, the customs officials participated in a site visit organized with the Directorate General of Customs of Côte d'Ivoire and the Autonomous Port of Abidjan. This provided an opportunity for exchanges and sharing of experiences with the Directorate of Economic Regimes and the port authorities.
Strengthening the capacity of customs officers is expected to advance regional integration, especially following the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Dorsaf Labidi, Head of the African Development Bank's Industrial Development, Trade and Investment Climate Division, stressed that the Bank has supported, and continues to support, trade development and facilitation projects and programmes, as well as reforms to improve the business climate in African countries, in addition to its continued support to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
