In this regard, an official delegation from the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan paid a visit to Dubai Customs to learn about its renowned award-winning "Mirsal 2" system. Developed in-house by Dubai Customs and launched in 2010, Mirsal 2 is an integrated Customs system providing all of DC’s services electronically.
The high-level mission comprised Ms Tolkyn Baimukhanova, Director of Customs, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and a host of officials from several Kazakhstani public institutions, including the ports, transport, logistics and train industries. They were greeted by a DC team, headed by Mr. Abdullah Mohammed Al Khaja, Acting Executive Director of Client Management Division.
The delegates were briefed about the specifications of Mirsal 2 system, which has made a quantum leap in the Customs work due the massive potential it offers in terms of cutting-edge techniques and comprehensive solutions that further enhanced DC operations and helped expedite customer transactions.
Since the deployment of Mirsal 2, the time required to complete customs transactions has been reduced by over 80%, and 86% of customs declarations are cleared in less than 2 hours. The remaining 14% are referred to the Customs Declarations Department as per the Risk Engine assessment to ensure they are free of any risk. This process takes two hours.
Dubai Customs officials explained to the visiting deputation that the system was developed internally over a period of two years, as per the standards and requirements of the WCO, and in accordance with global Customs best practices. The aim was to boost economy and facilitate a streamlined trade flow, while taking into account national security interests. The system provides an array of customs services, namely registration, clearance, licensing and e-payment procedures, all through a paperless environment.
The delegation highly commended DC’s experience in fine tailoring its own electronic systems , describing “Mirsal 2” as the jewel of these advancements, which stands as magnet that brought the attention of numerous global entities seeking to improve their Customs work by adopting the latest technologies and software applications.
Mr. Abdullah Al Khaja, Acting Executive Director of Client Management Division, said, “DC’s experience in developing its own electronic systems has grabbed massive interest of many Customs and border agencies and seaports authorities around the world. This reflects the unrivalled success achieved in the areas of service improvement and across-the-board development, by adopting and implementing the best of information technology application in Customs work.”
He added that “The Department’s effort in developing Mirsal 2 was a threshold for providing more competitive services to the clients, enabling them to enjoy value-added and enhanced returns on their trade transactions with more time and efforts efficiency in processing Customs work. This achievement was anchored by a series of continuous and consecutive upgrades to our electronic systems; leading the way to the birth of the “Risk Engine” which insures timely electronic assessment of risks on all crossing shipments. In addition to the Advanced Container Scanning System With an outstanding capacity to screen the contents of 150 trucks per hour moving at 8 to 15 km/hour. These sustained and progressive endeavours were recently crowned in DC’s full transformation into the first Smart Government Department, delivering all of our Customs services via smartphones.”
Dubai’s trade with Kazakhstan in 2013 stood at around Dh862 million.
It is noteworthy that, for the third consecutive year, Dubai Customs recently claimed the Distinguished Technological/Technical Project Award of the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP) Awards. The winning project is the Advanced Container Scanning system, which is the first innovative and comprehensive solution in the world that combines and integrates multiple components of inspection technologies. It is the latest world-class integrated system for containers and trucks X-ray screening. The device is capable of screening the contents of 150 trucks per hour moving at 8 to 15 km/hour, that is one truck per every 24 seconds. The system has been developed in order to help effectively protect the borders of Dubai and UAE.
Dubai Customs also won the 17th edition DGEP award for the electronically distinguished government entity, for the year 2013-2014. The prestigious award recognizes DC’s successful IT initiatives by adopting an excellent Customs development model, based on international best practices in the field. Through this model, DC has been able to achieve its goals in trade facilitation, security enforcement, compliance, and trade supply chain integration. These achievements have positioned the UAE in general and Dubai in particular at the forestage of global competitiveness.