The International Customs Day celebration has been marked in Accra by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority with the support of allied stakeholder institutions and captains of industry.
This year’s celebration focused on the dedicated united efforts of Customs to progressively emerge from the coronavirus crisis and support businesses by strengthening the global supply chain.
Commissioner of Customs, Colonel Kwadwo Damoah, delivering a speech by the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization, Kunio Mikuriya, said the COVID-19 has shown the importance of major innovative and technological concepts that the World Customs Organization has been promoting for years.
Thus, Customs administrations have been sensitized on the benefits of integration of technologies, and he expressed a commitment to continue to place the various administrations in the position to realize this objective.
“In order to address customs’ vulnerability to systemic risks like pandemics, customs administrations will be called upon to build on the lessons learnt and ensure that no one is left behind as we move towards a deeper transformation,” he said.
The Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Laboratory, Phyllis Sekyi Djan indicated that the ultramodern facilities at the Division’s disposal has helped the Authority retrieve short collections running into millions of cedis.
The Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority who joined Ghana Customs to mark the occasion, recounted the collaborative efforts GPHA made with GRA and other stakeholders towards maintaining business sustainability during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“The COVID happened at a time that things were difficult. Because it was coupled with the deployment of ICUMS and we had to embark both to still ensure that the transitional period of ICUMS and the challenges that we had to COVID, we will still be able to ensure business continuity.”
The President of GIFF, Eddy Akrong, expressed the freight forwarding fraternity’s unwavering support for Customs renewal agenda to create resilience for a sustainable supply chain.
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Seth Twum Akwaboah, in a speech read on his behalf called for increased dialogue between Customs and industry towards alleviating potential delays that may emanate from arduous processes.
Customs used the occasion to award some distinguished customs officials across the nation for their outstanding service to Ghana Customs and the nation as a whole.