The Director General of Customs and Indirect Duties, Guénolé Mbongo Koumou, has been elected Vice-Chairman of the Board of the World Customs Organization (WCO), for the West and Central Africa region. It is thus one of the six countries in the world that will have to lead the destiny of international trade.
The election took place during the conference of Directors General of this organization held on September 24 by videoconference. Guénolé Mbongo Koumou succeeds Guinean Toumani Sangare for a one-year renewable term.
“The accession of the Congo to this post is a recognition by the international community of the efforts made by this country, in terms of reforms aimed at simplifying and harmonizing customs clearance procedures,” said the Director General of customs of the Congo.
“Congo will have to set an example by continuing the reforms initiated. The country’s experience in managing cross-border conflicts in Africa will be of great help in the exercise of this new mission. “
The Republic of the Congo has been involved in the process of customs reforms for two years now through E.douane and Ekengue (platforms for tracking goods in transit) recently launched.
Thanking his counterparts, the Director General of the customs of the Congo said: “my ardent wish is to make the customs of the region professional, relevant and efficient administrations in the service of trade facilitation, the competitiveness of the economy, the protection of society and the mobilization of revenue for our public treasuries ”.
Sharing experiences between countries in West and Central Africa should be one of the pillars of collective action, said the new WCO Vice-President.
The accession of the Congo to the vice-presidency of the WCO comes at the time of the effective launch of the Continental Free Trade Zone (Zlecaf) and, in a context of global economic crisis accentuated by the effects of the fall in the prices of raw materials including those linked to the coronavirus health crisis.
Remember that the Republic of Congo has been a member of the WCO since 1975. For this election, three countries were candidates for this post, namely Congo, Benin and Nigeria.
Customs administrations in West and Central African countries are facing many challenges, including growing insecurity and the upsurge in organized cross-border crime, pressure to raise revenue in a situation of persistent economic crisis, the implementation of the trade facilitation agreement and the Zlecaf. In addition, there are deficits in terms of professionalization and management of human resources within almost all customs administrations in the sub-region.
