May 19, 2007

Arusha to host historic EAC tax seminar

High profile talks on effective customs reform methods within the East African Community (EAC) will be held in Arusha next Monday.

The meeting would be attended by private sector stakeholders and revenue experts from the EAC.

The roundtable discussions aim at collecting views and ultimately suggest strategies for improving administration of customs in the EA region.

The conference would be held under the aegis of East African Business Council (EABC) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said the EABC Communications officer, Bobi Odiko.

The meeting would draw on experiences garnered so far by Business Action For Improving Customs Administration in Africa (BAFICAA) and seek how to consolidate and implement some of them.

BAFICAA is an alliance of private sector organizations, led by Unilever and British American Tobacco, and with the UK’s trade facilitation agency, SITPRO.

Its aim is to improve the way African Customs work so as to promote freer movement of goods from, within and to the continent, generate a more positive investment climate, create a more transparent and accountable system of revenue collection, and facilitate more vigorous intra-regional trade.

BAFICAA`s approach has been to draw on business` experience of the Customs administrations and procedures they currently deal with across Africa and to deliver some concrete proposals for improvement.

The main objective of the regional workshop, he said, would be to bring together the representatives of the private sector and officials from the customs departments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, to take stock of progress with respect to initiatives and agreements on an EAC-wide common approach to customs administration.

The day-long meeting will be attended by 30 participants including officials of the EAC and EABC Secretariats, representatives of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Investment Climate Facility (ICF) and partner states` revenue officials.

BAFICAA`s origin dates back to 2005 when it was formed as one of the groups of businesses in response to the Commission for Africa report in 2005.

It has no formal membership structure but aims to adding new companies as it gathers momentum locally.

The outfit looks specifically at the role of customs as key driver of more dynamic intra-regional trade subscribing to the guiding principles behind the business action for Africa movement which is to involve the private sector more actively in addressing the main strategic and practical issues that matter to business in Africa.

The inaugural regional workshop will also act as a forum to formally introduce the BAFICAA initiative to the EAC Secretariat and identify as well as agree on areas where BAFICAA and the revenue authorities in the EAC region share common interest in customs modernization and trade facilitation.

* SOURCE: Guardian