Leaders of General Department of Vietnam Customs working with Director General of Nigeria Customs

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh worked with Director General of Nigeria Customs. Photo: H.Nụ

At the meeting, on behalf of the leaders and customs officials of Vietnam, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh welcomed the delegation of the Director General of Nigeria Customs who visited and worked with Vietnam Customs.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh said that with the current volatile world situation, the duties of the Customs authorities have also changed and evolved from the customs management method which has been transformed into modern customs management. In particular, the use of modern equipment and advanced technology is aimed to not only facilitate trade but also to implement customs enforcement and support the struggle against smuggling, terrorism and public health protection and environmental protection.

With the common goal of building modern Customs authorities to meet international standards and providing the best service to the business community and ensure good state management in Customs, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh hoped that in the future, Vietnam Customs and Nigeria Customs would cooperate more closely in the professional fields of mutual concern in order to implement national and international objectives.

Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh also said that in the spirit of cooperation and mutual support in the customs field, with this first visit of the Director General of Nigeria Customs and colleagues, it would be a good start to the bilateral cooperation of the two Customs authorities and create a good premise for the cooperation of Vietnam Customs with other Customs authorities in Africa.

Furthermore, during the meeting, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali – Director General of Nigeria Customs, said that Nigeria Customs was the agency responsible for collecting taxes on customs duties and smuggling prevention. Following the trend of globalization and trade facilitation, the Customs sector has played an important role in the supply chain of international goods and services. Therefore, a challenge for Nigerian Customs is not only to ensure quick delivery of customs public services, but also maintain effective and systematic enforcement measure to meet international trade which is growing fast and more complex, especially the increase in sophisticated economic crimes. Nigerian Customs expected that after this meeting, there would be an opportunity to cooperate with Vietnam Customs in preventing and combating smuggling and trade frauds between the two countries in general and between two customs authorities in particular.

Director General Hameed Ibrahim Ali stressed that Nigeria Customs is applying IT in the work of control to be effective and facilitating import and export activities. In that, 80% of procedures are being carried out by Nigerian Customs through electronic clearance and it is expected that this figure will reach 100% in the future. Additionally, Nigeria is also applying a special tax system together with West African countries based on signing bilateral agreements in other to enjoy preferential tariffs.

In the future, Nigeria Customs aimed to complete more comprehensively the implementation of its functions and duties through the effective application of risk management, fully implement modern customs procedures, strengthen post clearance audit and re-process the processes, effectively use the electronic data exchange system in advance, carry out transactions in real time, apply a single window system in order to harmonize and standardize international trade information. In particular, Nigerian Customs has an orientation of applying smart border solutions and biometric technology in order to enhance effective cargo management, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali added.

At the meeting, two customs authorities agreed on three contents: The situation of illegal wildlife trade (ivory, rhino horn, pangolin, among others) via seaway and airway from Nigeria to Vietnam; sharing experiences on controlling fraudulent import-export activities between Nigeria and Vietnam; exchange foreign trade statistics between Nigeria Customs and Vietnam Customs.

Accordingly, in the future, Vietnam Customs expected the two Customs authorities would promptly share information related to the consignments and suspected subjects who come to Vietnam’s territory.

Through the working session, Deputy Director General Mai Xuan Thanh hoped that the meeting would mark an important first step in the cooperation and support relationship between the Customs authorities of Vietnam and Nigeria. At the same time, it is expected that the two Customs authorities will gain more progressive achievements in the future, the cooperative relations will have a positive impact on trade and investment relations between the two economies and facilitate the commercial development and cultural exchange between the two nations.