Saudi Arabia has been re-elected as a member of the Customs Policies and Financial Committees of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Saturday.
The move followed an agreement among North African and Near and Middle East countries reached at the 56th coordination meeting held at the headquarters of the WCO in Brussels.
Governor of Zakat, Tax and Customs authority Suhail bin Mohammed Abanmi led the Saudi delegation to the meetings.
The WCO’s Customs Policies and Financial Committees are considered some of the most important and prominent committees of the group.
These committees are concerned with drawing up the organization’s policies by submitting recommendations.
Abanmi and the Saudi delegation witnessed discussions on international standards, practices and recommendations prepared for implementation during the next fiscal year.
These standards and recommendations aim at enhancing the management and facilitation of cross-border trade.
Abanmi stressed that Saudi Arabia's re-election comes as a continuation of the country's excellence in supporting action plans that achieve WCO goals.
Moreover, the Kingdom has proved its role in supporting activities aimed at developing and improving the effectiveness of customs work performance among WCO member states.
WCO members focused their discussions on several areas, including data strategy, performance measurement, capacity building, rules of origin, assessment, in addition to classification, compliance, trade facilitation, as well as many issues related to customs work.
Saudi Arabia had recently issued an order requiring the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority to expand the implementation of the “clearance within two hours” initiative.
The Kingdom also ordered the Authority to coordinate with the relevant state institutions to realize the initiative.
The order confirms the Saudi government’s interest in supporting efforts to achieve national transformation goals set by Vision 2030. The Kingdom has ambitions for becoming a global platform for logistics services.
