A seminar on “Pakistan Customs – Strategic Plan 2019-2024” was arranged by the Directorate General of Training & Research (Customs), Karachi, in collaboration with Customs Wing, Federal Board of Revenue, in Karachi.
Muhammad Irfan, spokesman for the Customs, said that all officers of the Pakistan Customs (BS-17 and above) posted in Karachi participated in the seminar, which was chaired by Dr Jawwad Uwais Agha, member Customs-Operations.
In his welcome address, Faiz Ahmad, director general, Directorate General of Training & Research (Customs), welcomed the guests and highlighted the progress of the Pakistan Customs being the first public sector organisation to initiate computerisation and automation in the country.
He also highlighted the role of the Directorate General of Training & Research in this regard. The Member Customs (Operations) spoke at length and informed the participants about the progress achieved by the Pakistan Customs at both national and international levels. At the national level, the Customs has been reorganised on professional lines of appraisement and enforcement streams.
Accordingly, new field formations/collectorates relating to these streams have been established across the country. Human Resource has accordingly been deployed at these formations on a need basis.
He specially highlighted starting up of 24/7 operations of the Pakistan Customs at the Torkham border station. Progress regarding modernisation in the automation of the Pakistan Customs, i.e. from WeBOC module to latest state-of-the-art WeBOC Glo, was highlighted.
He also highlighted the lead role of the Pakistan Customs in the National Single Window (NSW) where Customs as lead agency of 40 agencies was performing a great role in the progress of the country towards a fully automated business and trade friendly country in the comity of nations and making great achievements in the ease of doing business.
At international level, under the Pakistan Customs, the country’s image is being improved before the FATF for which the anti-money laundering directorate is performing a laudable role, he told the audience.
One of the great achievements of the present Customs administration is to develop a basic document, i.e. “Pakistan Customs – Strategic Plan 2019-24”, which has never been done before in the history.
This document, recently developed in collaboration with the World Bank, will serve as a road map/vision for the Pakistan Customs in future. The document was also distributed among the participants of the seminar.
For achieving the objectives of a highly motivated work force to achieve national objectives of maximum collection of revenue at the import stage and perform anti-smuggling activities, he announced the introduction of uniforms for enforcement officers/staff, launching of medical insurance scheme for all officers and staff across the board and a merit-based transparent policy for transfer and postings of all Customs personnel with an internal evaluation of performance and integrity.
Subsequently, all other team leaders who worked in different areas of reform process in collaboration with the World Bank also addressed the participants and explained the way forward on specific demands like risk management, post clearance audit, valuation and the time line to complete the task.
Thereafter, various presentations were given during the seminar which included presentations by Ahmad Rauf, Wajid Ali and Mumtaz Ali Khoso. all collectors, who informed the participants about Strategic Plan 2019-24 in detail. The seminar concluded with these presentations and deliberations.