Korea Customs Service Hosts High-Level Policy Training Workshop for African Customs Authorities

Yoon Tae-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service (left), is taking a commemorative photo with the Commissioner of the Lesotho Revenue Authority after discussing customs issues between the two countries at the "High-Level Policy Training Workshop for African Customs Authorities" held on the 7th. Photo by Korea Customs Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Customs Service announced on the 7th that it will hold a trade facilitation policy training session from the 7th to the 10th, inviting high-ranking officials from the customs authorities of 14 African countries.

According to the Korea Customs Service, over the past two years, the scale of exports and imports on the African continent has surged: ▲Exports increased from $5.774 billion in 2020 to $9.84 billion in 2021 (up 70%) ▲Imports rose from $4.122 billion in 2020 to $6.716 billion in 2021 (up 63%).

In response, the Korea Customs Service plans to focus on supporting local exports in Africa through the electronic customs clearance system ‘UNI-PASS’ and establishing cooperative relationships in customs administration across the African region by using the training session as a linkage.

The strategy is to share the operational achievements of countries such as Tanzania, which have introduced and operate UNI-PASS, with the participating countries of the training session, and to strengthen customs administration cooperation between Korea and Africa through discussions on country-specific trade facilitation measures such as customs modernization and current customs administration issues.

Africa is currently considered the largest export continent for UNI-PASS. In fact, the total export amount of UNI-PASS by the Korea Customs Service so far is $250 million, of which five African countries account for $160 million (64% of the total).

In particular, the Korea Customs Service expects UNI-PASS exports to increase, triggered by the enforcement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January last year.

The African Continental Free Trade Area was launched with the aim of eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers among African Union member countries and realizing the liberalization of services and movement of labor.

Taking this opportunity, the Korea Customs Service anticipates that countries aiming to enhance trade facilitation locally will show interest in the Korean-style electronic customs clearance system and that movements to introduce UNI-PASS will become visible.

Above all, the Korea Customs Service explains that exporting the electronic customs clearance system is not merely a system export but also an export of Korea’s customs administration experience, which will create a favorable trade environment for Korean companies operating locally and strengthen export-import competitiveness.

Yoon Tae-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, said, “With the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area, cooperation among customs authorities for trade facilitation has become important locally. It is meaningful that this high-level policy training session was held face-to-face at such a time.”

He added, “The Korea Customs Service will actively promote projects to share Korea’s customs administration innovation experiences, such as the operation of the Korean-style electronic customs clearance system and goods surveillance applying new technologies, with African countries and to cooperate mutually.”

Meanwhile, the delegation attending the training session plans to visit policy sites such as the Incheon Customs Express Logistics Center during their stay in Korea to observe Korea’s advanced customs administration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.