Dubai Customs and Ministry of Economy host training workshop on WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

The Dubai Customs Training Centre has organised, jointly with the Ministry of Economy, a training workshop on the provisions of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), to give the employees of DC an insight on the TFA.

The workshop facilitator Sultan Ahmed Darwish, Director of Trade Negotiations and WTO, Ministry of Economy, said that “The United Arab Emirates has become the first WTO member from the Arab region to ratify the new TFA. Taking the lead to ratify the TFA, comes out of the UAE’s firm belief that such an agreement, once fully implemented, will boost global trade by expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit.”

The facilitator highlighted the importance and expected gains of implementing the agreement, as well as Dubai Customs’ role in putting it into effect in the country.

Dr. Shaikha Al Ghafri, Acting Director of Customs Training Centre, attended the workshop. She commented, “We are committed to keeping DC employees up to date with legislations and developments taking place on the global arena in relation to their work nature.”

The TFA also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. It further contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this area.

The TFA broke new ground for developing and least-developed countries in the way it will be implemented. For the first time in WTO history, the requirement to implement the Agreement was directly linked to the capacity of the country to do so. In addition, the Agreement states that assistance and support should be provided to help them achieve that capacity.