Tuesday, August 28, 2007 Eaga Customs heads here for 2-day meet
THE Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia the Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) will intensify efforts to beef up port-to-port links between and among its focus areas as heads of customs offices in the sub-region meet in Davao City Tuesday in the first ever BIMP-Eaga Heads of Customs Meeting at the Marco Polo Hotel.
Delegations from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, led by their respective Customs director generals and commissioners, arrived in the city Monday to attend the two-day meeting that will be concluded Wednesday.
The delegates are composed of regional customs heads and customs officials responsible for international cooperation.
Heads of delegations to the meeting are Pengiran Abdul Haris Bin Pengiran Shabudin, director general of the Royal Customs and Excise for Brunei Darussalam; M. Wahyu Purnomo, director of international affairs of the Directorate General of Customs and Excise for Indonesia; Abd. Rahman Bin Abd. Hamid, director general of Royal Malaysian Customs for Malaysia; and Commissioner Napoleon Morales of the Bureau of Customs for the Philippines.
The meeting is the first ever gathering of the heads of the customs administrations of the four-member countries, held in view of the need to streamline customs processes within major ports of BIMP-Eaga.
It will also provide a venue for the national and regional customs officials, key private sector representatives, and development partner organizations such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to discuss customs issues affecting border-to-border links in BIMP-Eaga.
The meeting likewise aims to generate support from the customs administrations and BIMP-Eaga partners in resolving customs issues which have been hampering the improvement of trade, investment and tourism facilitation across borders of the sub-region.
Improving customs services in major Eaga ports is a vital part in the overall Eaga CIQS initiative especially in facilitating the transport and delivery of goods within and beyond the sub-region.
Highlights of the two-day meeting include presentations and discussions on various BIMP-Eaga updates, CIQS initiative, BIMP-Eaga Customs Action Plan for 2007 and customs situational analysis on border-to-border links between Zamboanga (Philippines)-Sandakan (Malaysia), Davao (Philippines)-Manado (Indonesia), General Santos (Philippines)-Bitung (Indonesia, Muara (Brunei Darussalam)-Labuan (Malaysia), and Entikong (Indonesia)-Tebedu (Malaysia).
The Philippine Bureau of Customs leads the National Organizing Committee (NOC) for this hosting, in collaboration with the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco), Bureau of Customs-Davao and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
