The 8th Meeting of Focal Points for the Capacity Building of Customs Administrations of the West and Central African Region of the World Customs Organization (WCO) took place from Wednesday 25 to Friday 27, October 2017 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

The meeting goes along with the implementation of the WCO regionalization policy on capacity building and customs modernization carried out by the WCO and was attended by fourteen (14) customs administrations representing their respective countries, the deputy chairman, the WCO Secretariat and the Regional Training Centers (RTC) of Brazzaville and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

The meeting was closed by Emmanuel Akouala-Mpan, Principal Private Secretary of the Minister of finance and budget of the host country, honourable  Calixte Nganongo. The participants adopted 31 recommendations intended for the WCO deputy chairman and Secretariat; the West and Central African Regional Capacity Building Office (WCARCBO) based in Abidjan- Côte d' Ivoire; and the 23 customs administrations of the region and their focal points.  The full text of the document follows:

RECOMMENDATIONS TO  :

 the WCO  deputy chairman and  Secretariat:

1- keep the item on leadership awareness and its role in the success of the reform (new) on the agenda of the next meeting of general managers ;

2- pursue the policy of cooperation with  regional economic communities (ECOWAS, UEMOA, CEMAC,ECCAS, etc.), as well as with other potential donors, with a view to obtaining additional funding for regional capacity building activities of customs administrations;

3- encourage member administrations of the Region to emphasize the sharing of experience and good practices, in particular, within the framework of the Regional Coaching Program;

4- encourage member administrations of the region to sign Memoranda of Understanding for mutual administrative cooperation with border countries within the framework of the joint management of transit operations, exchange of information in the fight against fraud and coordinated border management;

5- draft a declaration on the specific features of the customs Human Resources (HR) function and the need to move towards autonomous management for the conference of general managers (new) ;

 the WCO Secretariat:

1. keep on making efforts to organize expert accreditation workshops to build a regional pool to ensure the sustainability of WCO initiated capacity building programs and projects in the WCO region of West and Central Africa;

2. pursue the strategy for a better involvement general managers in the modernization process of customs administrations;

3. go on with the initiatives to extend the West African Customs Administration Modernization Project (WACAMP) to the entire West and Central African region;

4. continue the study on the transformation phenomenon of traditional customs administrations into mixed bodies (customs and tax) under the status of Revenue Office in the region, in order to provide relevant information for experience sharing;

5. continue capacity building initiatives in the region with regional bodies, in particular by having them more involved them in the preparation, the implementation and assessment phase of projects and activities carried out in the West and Central African (WCA) region;

6. improve coordination with CBRO-AOC in the processing of capacity building requests from customs administrations of the WCA region;

the  CBRO- WCA:

1. continue to raise awareness among general  managers on  the need to provide  Modernization Committees and Contact Points for capacity-building with the means necessary to carry out their missions;

2. organize as soon as possible, in collaboration with the WCO Secretariat, a regional workshop for the accreditation of experts in Leadership and Strategic Management, in order to establish a pool of regional experts in this field;

3.continue validation activities of the results of self-assessment  exercise with the administrations of the WCA region, in collaboration with the officers in charge of the reform;

4. provide technical assistance to administrations in implementing the Strategic Plan (2018-2022) and promote regional coaching;

5. pursue the strategy aiming at making general managers more involved in the modernization process of customs administrations;

6. develop tools for the assessment of the relevance and impact of capacity-building activities in the WCA region for member administrations and regional bodies;  

7. improve coordination with the WCO Secretariat in the processing of capacity building requests from customs administrations of the WCA region;

8.  take  necessary steps to hand out the roadmaps of the current year to member administrations by the end of January 2018 at the latest;

9. renew the relevant activities of the 2013-2017 Strategic Plan in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan.  They remain challenges for administrations in the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan (new);

10.take into account the specific features and challenges of all administrations in designing the 2018-2022 Strategic Plan (new) ;

Customs administrations of the WCA region:

1.continue to share experience and good practices within the Region, in particular within the framework of the Regional Coaching Program;

2. continue sharing experience and good practices with other administrations in the region, and  write a Report on the impact of the ownership at the meetings of  focal points in the case of administrations  which  broke their contracts with inspection companies ;

3. report the findings of the self-assessment exercise to the  CBRO-WCA by mid-January at the latest;

4. ask Liberia, Gambia and Gabon to share their experience and good practices in the field of Human Resources Management (HRM) with other member administrations of the WCA region;

5. ensure capacity building of border officers in the following official languages (English, French, Portuguese) as part of coordinated border management in the WCA region;

6. provide  Modernization Committees and Focal Points for Capacity Building with the means necessary  to carry out their tasks;

7. consolidate the guidelines of the Regional Strategic Plan in national plans;

 Focal Points:

1.Inform respective management bodies of the need for continued multi-sectoral assistance to customs administrations in the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau in the name of regional solidarity;

2. raise awareness among officials of the need to conclude Memoranda of Understanding on mutual administrative cooperation with border countries within the framework of the Joint Management of transit operations, exchange of information in the fight against fraud and coordinated border management;

3. inform CBRO-WCA as soon as possible about Cooperation Agreements concluded by their administrations, while mentioning partner countries and areas of cooperation.

Press department of the Ministry of finance