The Authority Receives Commendation for its
efforts towards modernization
On the afternoon of May 7, 2009 the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs
Authority (ERCA) received commendation from Mr. Lars Karlsson, Director
of Capacity Building of World Customs Authority; for its initial steps
towards modernization.
The director gave his commendation at a press conference held in
the Authority's meeting hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
At the conference, Mr. Karlsson expressed that his first visit to
Ethiopian had given him an opportunity to assess the Authority's efforts
towards modernization and to hold talks with the ministers, Director
General of the Authority and his management team, and the private
sector in the area of improving the Authority's capacity to carry
out its objectives such as revenue collection, trade facilitation
and protection of society from threats to national security.
The director said that he was impressed by the initial steps taken
by the Authority to modernize its systems for implementing a range
of government policies and a number of national development objectives.
He added that the steps taken towards modernization involve the implementation
of the business process reengineering and the merger of the three
institutions into a single administration and other significant changes.
The changes initiated in the Authority’s system indicate that
the Authority is on the right track and their results are quite promising.
He pointed out that for the present-day modernization effort of the
Authority to be fruitful continuous political will, ownership and
leadership etc are essential key mechanisms. In addition to it, he
said, the support from WCO would enable the Authority to deliver the
results that the government and the international trade partners are
expecting.
As part of an effort to help the Authority, WCO has promised to send
a team of experts who will make a comprehensive strategic training
analysis. Furthermore the team is expected to design internal training
system necessary for the development of skills and customs competencies,
and sustainable capacity building within the entire Authority. In
addition to this, the WCO team will also train the Authority's staff
on how to use modern technology WCO has installed, and the training
tools of WCO that will be available for the Authority beginning from
July of the current fiscal year.
He also pointed out that customs administrations requires skills,
competencies, tools and resources to modernize their systems and WCO,
in its attempt to address their needs, has designed Columbus program
launched in 2006, and 112 countries including Ethiopia are assisted
by this program.
Finally the Director has expressed his profound gratitude for the
effort the Authority has shown towards modernization and for the cooperation
ERCA had manifested during his visit to Ethiopia.
