Egypt’s Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait has said that new skilful staff will be promoted into leadership positions at the Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA).
This will take place by nominating the most qualified workers to fill the positions of general managers and agents at the authority, in a manner that complements the new Customs Law.
The law provides the legislative umbrella for the implementation of national projects to modernise and automate the customs system.
It helps achieve economic targets and turning custom ports into transit points instead of storage areas. Customs clearance time will be reduced, and the prices of goods and services in local markets are also set to decline.
This will contribute effectively to facilitating the movement of domestic and foreign trade and stimulate investment.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance, on Sunday, Maait directed ECA Head Al-Shahat Ghattoury to strengthen the on-the-ground follow-up of custom sites, ports, and logistical centres.
The aim is to closely identify any challenges that may face workers and traders, and positively and promptly address these challenges. All land, sea, and air ports will be connected through an electronic “one-stop shop” system, leading to an improvement in this field by the end of this year.
Ghattoury said that during the next stage, periodic meetings will be held with the commercial and industrial community and customs brokers, through “video conference” technology.
During these meetings, all concerns regarding challenges in the customs field will be observed, and effort will be made to remove any obstacles.
He pointed out that there is a central unit in the ECA Head office that is concerned with receiving and examining problems reported by exporters. The unit gives priority to the health sector, vaccines, and other urgent issues.
Ghattoury added that installing X-ray inspection devices at custom ports will be completed, and all necessary human resources will be provided to ensure the sustainability of the quality of this system, which contributes to strengthening the governance of customs control.
He said that he is keen on speeding up the completion of the “smart locks” project, to monitor container transport in the transit system inside Egypt for a speedy customs release.
He noted that specialised work teams will be formed to implement judicial rulings issued in favour of the ECA, in coordination with the concerned authorities.
Moreover, during the next phase, the authority’s employees will be redistributed to address the deficit of human resources in some departments.
