In awareness workshop on customs advanced rulings.. Baobaid: Commercial sector is going through a difficult stage
SMA NEWS – ADEN THE CAPITAL
An awareness workshop on advanced rulings in customs was held on Wednesday, in the capital, Aden, as part of the activities of the Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in cooperation with the Customs Authority and with the participation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden.
At the opening of the workshop, Mr. Abu Bakr Baobaid, President of Aden Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vice President of the General Federation of Yemeni Chambers of Commerce, delivered a speech in which he said that the commercial sector is going through a difficult stage due to the circumstances that the country is going through, pointing to the suffering of the private sector with current inappropriate business environment, stressing the importance of paying attention to the condition of citizens in general and working to improve their lives, praising the role of customs and all institutions that work to facilitate the work of the private sector, stressing the importance of everyone’s cooperation to deal with the current difficult circumstances, wishing for an improvement in conditions and an exit from the crises that affected the citizen and the current economic situation.
For his part, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Qubati, President of the Customs Authority, also talked in the workshop in which he welcomed the attendees, indicating that this workshop deals with procedures that represent part of the efforts made by the Customs Authority to facilitate transactions for merchants, facilitate the customs clearance process, and remove merchants’ goods without delay, based on the sense of responsibility of the Authority and its staff to perform the tasks assigned to them in the serving the commercial community.
In the event which was attended by Eng. Ashraf Khanbari, Vice General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden, Ms. Najwa Saleh, consultant and representative of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), spoke about the agency’s role in supporting the government from several aspects, including the economic one, noting that Yemen is trying to pursue the role of the neighborhood with regard to the requirements of the World Trade Organization, hoping for progress for the country and overcoming the current difficult circumstances it is going through.
Mr. Abdul Wahab Al-Aoudi, head of the Trade Facilitation Team (ERLP), provided an explanation about the workshop program, noting that the livelihoods program funded by the United States Agency for Development (USAID) understands the circumstances that affected the country and the commercial process, noting that the advanced rulings procedures came to facilitate commercial transactions as accelerating Customs clearance of goods at the borders and reducing disputes between the Customs Authority and economic operators regarding customs issues of tariffs, origin and evaluation at the borders, calling on the commercial community to benefit from the economic operator’s program and advanced rulings and the facilitation procedures it provides to traders through it.
Mr. Nigel Moore, a British customs expert and consultant for the Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program (ERLP), presented a general explanation about advanced rulings in customs, the importance of it, the benefits of obtaining it, and the documentary requirements for it.
It is worth noting that the awareness workshop, which was held with the participation of members of the commercial community and the private sector of merchants, as well as representatives of the Customs Authority and advisors to the Economic Recovery and Livelihoods Program, aims to educate the commercial community about the advanced rulings program in Yemeni Customs, discuss the application process and the benefits of the program, and respond to the commercial community’s questions regarding the program.
