16th meeting of the Governing Council of the Eastern and Southern Africa Region in Mauritius

Exchange of information and international cooperation is at the heart of the 16th meeting of the Governing Council of the Eastern and Southern Africa Region of the World Customs organisation.

The heads of Customs of 22 African countries are currently participating in the meeting being held in Mauritius. The two-day meeting was opened by the Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, yesterday at the Meridien Hotel in Balaclava.

According to Mr Jugnauth, the Mauritius Revenue Authority is currently piloting a system that will enable the Customs Department to build up an intelligence database and to securely exchange information with other agencies to help fight fraud and cross-border crime.

“The system is already operational in Mauritius and I hope you will all take the opportunity to see it in action and make it a part of the exchange of information that is imperative for effective law enforcement,” the minister told delegates.

Mr Jugnauth added that the Customs Department collects around 36% of total government revenues and is thus a very important stakeholder in the progress and prosperity of Mauritius.

According to the minister, the wide-ranging reforms introduced with the merging of all revenue departments have in fact yielded robust revenue collections during recent years.

He pointed out that desire to control fraud should not lose sight of the need to facilitate trade as it is remains a very important objective of the Customs Department.

The Director General of the MRA, Mr Sudhamo Lal, believes there should be a proper balance between control and trade facilitation, adding that the coming-together of all revenue departments under one umbrella has had many advantages.

“Our revenue departments were like close neighbours, living next door and helping each other, sharing gossip over the garden fence and helping each other from time to time. But when we all moved into the same house, we have shared the same kitchen and bathroom,” said Mr Lal.