By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JULY 17, 2018: WITH economic growth gathering pace, it becomes important for customs authorities to ensure that cross border flows become less cumbersome, transaction time is reduced and costs as well as illicit trafficking is kept under check. This was stated by Mr Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, at the Assumption Ceremony of the Office of Vice Chair of World Customs Organization (WCO) for the Asia Pacific Region.

The Assumption Ceremony formalizes India’s position of Vice Chair for the WCO for the Asia Pacific Region. It was jointly organized by Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), WCO and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The term of Vice Chair will be for a period of two years. More than 30 countries are members of the Asia Pacific region of WCO, and the Ceremony saw participation from 33 countries.

Mr Shukla further stated that while the move towards a borderless world is spawning a host of opportunities, trade is also being subject to a gamut of challenges for which a proactive approach would be required to make trade easy, safe and transparent. Besides, more needs to be done on the Trade Facilitation Agreement of WTO. He said that as Vice Chair, India would work towards building consensus among members on core issues while recognizing the diversity and differences in the levels in economic development within Asia Pacific.

Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General, WCO, focused on the primacy of taking a regional approach to improve the trading environment in Asia Pacific which is the biggest among the six WCO regions. He also emphasized the importance of security not only of goods but also of maritime passengers. He noted that sharing of information and data among the member countries is required to ensure security and eliminate illicit trade.

Lauding India’s use of technology in trade facilitation, Dr Mikuriya mentioned that its strengths would be leveraged at the regional level in areas such as use of IT, blockchain technology, risk management and the single window system. A globally networked customs system would facilitate a transparent trading system. Similarly, India’s successful experience of setting up the National Committee for Trade Facilitation with private sector partnership would be taken forward to go beyond the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement paramenters.

Mr Mikurya also highlighted the significance of partnership between customs and the business and said that top priority should be given to engage the private sector in e-commerce and cross border movement. The WCO would provide support to government agencies, business and academia for this purpose.

Mr S. Ramesh, Chairman, CBIC, said that the guiding principles for India as the Vice Chair would be greater communication and connectivity, adopting advanced technological solutions, striving to recognize differences and moving ahead in an inclusive manner. He said that as Vice Chair, India is committed to enhance cooperation with members of WCO for overall prosperity of the region.

Mr Milon K Nag, Co-Chairman, CII Task Force on Ease of Doing Business, that establishing of paperless regulatory system, reducing documentary compliance, eliminating physical submission of documents and establishing the port community system, and other measures have greatly helped trade facilitation environment for business in India.