Dubai Customs received a high-profile delegation headed by H.E. Saleh bin Manee Al-Khelaiwi, Director General of Saudi Customs, within the framework of the mutual cooperation and exchange of expertise with our sister GCC countries.
H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs, and Free Zone Corporation welcomed the Saudi Customs delegation, stressing that the visit shall contribute to the promotion of customs cooperation areas and exchange of expertise between Dubai and KSA, as well as stepping up their bilateral trade, as it reached in the first half of 2013 AED 28 billion, growing by 20% compared to AED 23 billion achieved in the first half of 2012. Butti mentioned that the KSA is considered one of our leading strategic trade partners, ranked the first among our GCC trade partners, and the sixth internationally in 2012, as the volume of exchanged trade amounted to AED 44 billion.
The Director General of Dubai Customs expressed his wish that the outcomes of the visit shall be beneficial and useful for the two sister countries for the development of their work. He added that a large volume of traded goods pass through the Dubai Customs and the Saudi Customs. Thus, the importance of customs comes from this to create an investment attracting environment and bring in more international trade traffic, particularly since the world is steering towards trade facilitation and many countries strive to attract international trade traffic as well as investors are on the lookout for countries that provide work motivating facilitations.
He added that the two parties discussed several issues of common interest, as well as developing mechanisms for future cooperation by using the best practices of the strong existing areas of cooperation, especially technical aspects, confirming that Dubai Customs is keen to provide all necessary facilities to the business sector in both countries in order to maintain their excellent commercial and economic partnership.
On the other hand, H.E. Saleh bin Manee Al-Khelaiwi expressed his gratitude to H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed for inviting the Saudi Customs to visit Dubai Customs and the hospitality the delegation was received with which reflects the Emirati deep-rooted hospitality culture and the good relations that connect the both sides. These relations are backed by regular visits that contribute to stepping up trade between them. He underlined the importance of Dubai as it contributes over 80% of UAE trade volume with world countries.
The visit started by an extensive session held at Dubai Customs building during which the Saudi delegation was briefed about the modern technological systems applied in Dubai Customs, especially MIRSAL2 and its sub-applications, on top of which are the risk engine and customs clearance system, and their role as trade facilitators and controllers of security in the society.
The Saudi delegation included Munif bin Darwish Al-Suamiri, Advisor to the Director-General, Abdul Aziz bin Rashid Al Roumi, General Manager of International Programs and Agreements, Abdul Mohsen Atallah Zayed, Director General of Al Batha Customs, Mansour bin Sultan Al-Otaibi, Specialist – International Programs and Agreements Management. Representatives of Dubai Customs who attended the meeting were: Yousef Hussein Al Sahlawi, Senior Executive Director of Corporate Affairs, Gomaa Al Ghaith, Executive Director of Customs Development Division, Ahmed Mahboob Musabih Executive Director of the Customer Management Division, Mohammad Matar Al Marri, Executive Director of Cargo Operations Division and Ahmed Abdul Salam Kazim, Senior Manager of the Strategy & Corporate Excellence Department.
The delegation watched a number of presentations about the approaches, mechanisms and systems of Dubai Customs work. They started with a presentation about the history of the Department and the approaches of strategic planning and corporate excellence. Gomaa Al Ghaith, Executive Director of Customs Development Division, made a presentation about the new work system applied in Dubai Customs (MIRSAL2) and its work cycle starting from data entry through Dubai Trade Gate or the e-business channel (B2G) until it reaches the final stage of transaction after calculating custom duties and due fees. He said that the risk engine plays a major role in the automatic clearance of non-hazardous transactions, while he mentioned that the transactions which may include risks must be subject to stricter control, stressing the importance of sharing information with the strategic partners to facilitate legitimate trade exchange.
Ahmed Abdul Salam Kazim made a presentation about Dubai Customs vision and strategy, complying with Dubai Government strategy where he mentioned that the Department has biggest share in the Emirate’s income along its long history for more than 110 years, based on Dubai’s ancient commercial nature. Talking about corporate excellence approach, he said that the system of “balanced performance card” has been applied since 2005. The card included corporate targets and operational indicators which have been increased/ decreased according to the development of this approach specially based on Dubai Government performance indicators, Dubai Government Excellence, and the standards and requirements of World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Customs Organization (WCO).
Further, Butti spoke about the role of the customs inspector in providing best services to inbound travellers, and the civilized treatment of all nationalities alike, pointing that all three Dubai Airports’ buildings are in full swing, in terms of passenger traffic and traffic movements all year around. Moreover, Butti affirmed that Dubai Customs works according to an integrated work system that involve airport federal strategic partners; i.e. Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Police, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (DNRD), as well as other airlines and authorities, in order to establish Dubai’s position as a preferred place for residence, a tourist attraction of choice and a top destination for the most exciting of vacations.
During their tour inside Dubai International Airport’s Passenger Terminal - 3, the delegation were briefed on the role of inspectors in protecting the community, as they act as the first line of defense, warding off counterfeit goods and preventing their trafficking into the state, especially that Dubai airports employ about 700 inspectors, %40 of them are females, all are involved in specialized training programs in the fields of inspection, passenger handling along with training courses intended to sharpen their sense of security, identify types of narcotics and smuggling techniques and to learn how to handle seizures and cooperate with relevant government bodies.
After that, the delegation watched a presentation presented by Mr. Ali Al Maqhawi, Director of Airports Operations Department, about prohibited, banned and restricted items’ seizures during the first half of 2013. As per the statistics demonstrated through the presentation, the Department successfully carried out 112 narcotics seizures at Dubai International Airport, containing different types of narcotics; including hash, heroine, tramadol, poppy, marijuana, opium, crystal meth, cocaine and other drugs, all detected with male or female passengers, whether inbound or passing through Dubai in transit.
Later, the Saudi Customs delegation visited the Dubai Customs Inspectors Training Centre at the Airport terminal, which is considered the first of its kind among all UAE customs authorities. The Center provides support and assistance to all UAE and GCC customs departments, and through which Dubai Customs aspires to build a far-reaching customs inspection training hub, offering high quality training and workshops for personnel at different border ports, male and female inspector training to handle passenger inspection at all Dubai airports’ facilities, methods to deal with them, together with getting inspectors acquainted with narcotic substances’ types, forms and smuggling methods. The Center is fitted with the most recent equipment and furnishings which contribute to the development and support of inspector activities, and to ensure optimal performance of their assigned tasks.
In addition, and to ensure premium training, trainees are provided with a training kit that contain items bearing strong resemblance to actual commonly abused and promoted drugs; such as heroin, cocaine and other narcotic drugs, together with a set of Arabic translated booklets, so as to be utilized by all customs inspection staff. The booklets contain a description for narcotic drugs’ various forms and types, details, photos and cultivation areas for each, other composing substances and drug intake methods.
The kit also contains male and female mannequins, which are used to train inspectors to perform personal inspections for suspected passengers, and possible hiding places, whether inside the bodies or in clothes, besides, the mannequins’ outfit can be easily changed to suit different cultures and nationalities (traditional Arabic costumes for Arab males and females, suits and various women clothing).
The delegation then visited the Command and Control Room, being a one-of-a-kind in a customs authority in the Arab region. It is interconnected with cutting-edge Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) network, to monitor passengers at the customs area, that is, after completing passport-related procedures and, whenever someone is suspected, surveillance cameras are zoomed in on the suspected passenger as per the messages exchanged between the airport operating patrol team and room operators. Al Maqhawi stated that many seizures were carried out with the assistance of the airport surveillance cameras.
At the end of the visit, the Saudi Customs delegation expressed their admiration of the applicable work systems at Dubai Customs and the facilitations it delivers to customers as well as foreign and neighbouring business sectors, offering more robust opportunities for trade and investment exchange. They applauded the role played by Dubai Customs in the global arena and its successful hosting and organization of the 2013 WTO IT Conference themed “Effective Solutions for Coordinated Border Management”.