A delegation from executive office – Committee for Goods and Materials which subject to Control of Importing and Exporting from UAE, visited Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visiting delegation which was headed by His Excellency, Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Director General of Dubai Customs, included some committee members.
The visit comes within the framework of mutual cooperation, exchanging experience and boosting bilateral relations between UAE and Kingdom of Bahrain. In the span of two days, the delegation met with His Excellency, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa AL Khalifa, President of Bahrain Customs, Sheikh Nasir bin Abdul Rahman AL Khalifa, Director General of Customs and senior Customs officials.
H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed praised the achievements of Customs Union of the GCC Sates, wishing this Customs venture will fruitfully be foreseen overall business systems and programs to the benefit of the two parties
The Director General of Dubai Customs explained that the visit comes in response to the invitation that offered by Bahrain National Committee for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons towards boosting relationship with Dubai Customs strategic partners and exchanging experience with aim to achieving benefits and interests to all partners and bringing about business promotion in all fields, especially, in the technical domains.
H.E. Ahmed Butti revealed that during the meeting, matters related to fields of cooperation, establishment of Customs relations, exchange of expertise and knowledge between the two parties were discussed. The UAE delegation go acquainted with on-going Customs operating modules at Bahrain Customs - (TradeWorldManager) alocally called ‘‘OFOQ’’ which is a system integrator partnering with Bahrain Customs and other government competent agencies like Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Media etc. for implementation of e-GOV Single Window and Customs automation platform processing Customs declarations and aims at facilitating trade movement and implementing a Single Window principle
The UAE delegation visited to Kingdom of Bahrain included a tour to Kalifa bin Salman Port, which is the biggest Customs port in Bahrain as the port handles all containers and cruise activity in Bahrain with power capacity approximated at million containers in a year. The delegation also at the port visited the Customs Clearance Section and got learnt about the business mechanism and field processing applicable in the domain of Customs Clearance through ‘’AFOQ’’. His Excellency, Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs, praised this customs program mentioning that it adds value to the work in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The delegation also paid a visit to the General Civil Defense Department and the National Centre for Disasters and learnt about the role played by the National Committee for Managing Disasters which was formed in 2006 to be a central entity for the management of crises, emergencies and disasters and got acquainted with the latest and most advanced methods applied in handling dangerous, risks and chemical poisonous substances. Along with His Excellency, Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs, the delegation also included Mr. Hamad Abdullah AL Tayar, Deputy Director of the Executive Office of the goods and materials subject to import and export control.
At the end of the visit, the two parties exchanged memorial shields.