Mr. Sudhamo Lal, Director General of the MRA, signed two Memoranda of Cooperation (MoC) on the 25th of June 2010 at special signing ceremonies during the annual council meetings of the World Customs Organisation in Brussels, Belgium. He was accompanied by the Director of Customs, MRA, Mr. Stephen Mendes.

The first Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), on Capacity Building in Customs was signed by Mr Sudhamo Lal, Director General, Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) with Mr. Oupa G. Magashula, Commissioner, of the South African Revenue Service (SARS).The Memoranda of Cooperation were arranged by the good offices of the Capacity Building Directorate of the WCO and were also signed by Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO.

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya and Commissioner of SARS, Mr O. G. Magashula

 

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya and Commissioner of SARS, Mr O. G. Magashula congratulating each other

 

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya, Commissioner of SARS, Mr O. G. Magashula ,
Director Customs Mr S. Mendes and the SARS team

 

A second MoC was signed by Mr. Lal – this time with Mr. Vancho Kargov, Director General the Customs Service of the Republic of Macedonia.

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya and Director General. Customs Services of the
Republic of Macedonia, Mr V. Kargov

 

 

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya and Director General. Customs Services of the
Republic of Macedonia, Mr V. Kargov congratulating each other

 

DG MRA, Mr. S. Lal with Sec. Gen. WCO, Mr K. Mikuriya Director General Customs Services of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr V. Kargov , Director Customs (MRA), Mr. S. Mendes and the Macedonian team

 

The MoC with SARS covers areas such as training, risk management and enforcement and it will enable MRA Customs to tap into the considerable expertise of SARS Customs in these areas.

With the support of the WCO and SARS, MRA Customs will be able to utilise first class expertise and will be able to use the knowledge and experience of both of these organisations in the ongoing modernisation of customs.
The MoC with Macedonia covers the development of a National Single Window for trade. Macedonia have recently completed the implementation of a single window and, as the development of a single window is a priority for MRA Customs, the MoC will allow MRA to learn from their experience – so that development here will be smoother and more effective. The Single Window will allow trade documents and customs clearance to be processed much more quickly than at present and the newly implemented Macedonian single window has received much praise from WCO, EU, World Bank and others.

The signing of these MoC is actively encouraged by the WCO who are keen to ensure that customs services around the world share knowledge and experience with each other and help to build capacity in customs.