His Excellency Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, opened today June 11th the 1st HP Customs Forum, held by HP corporation at Oberoi Hotel in Dubai. The event brought together prominent GCC customs officials, such as Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Customs, and Mr. Abdulkarim Al Walei, Assistant Director General of Saudi Customs’ General Directorate for Restrictions and Tariffs, alongside a host of local and international HP officials.
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Ahmed Mahboob said that “The Emirate of Dubai is a leader in keeping pace with the latest high-tech IT applications and employing them in the service of economic and social development, under the wise leadership of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Stemming from the sharp vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, Dubai has made great strides towards becoming the smartest city in the world within three years. Transforming Dubai into the world’s smartest city will crown its experience and milestones in the IT realm, through to the implementation of mGovernment.”
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He continued that “The project of transforming Dubai into the world’s smartest city is being accompanied by a remarkable growth in its foreign trade in IT hardware and software. In 2013, the various IT products traded between Dubai and the rest of the world saw a 35% growth rate and amounted to Dh237 billion, making up 18% of the emirate’s total trade volume which amounted to Dh1.329 trillion in the same year. These figures show how active this sector is and how technology is becoming a fundamental aspect of life in Dubai. They also reflect Dubai’s prestigious position of as a global trade hub connecting the markets of the East and the West.”
It is expected, he said, that the IT sector will see a massive boom in the upcoming few years, in the light of the sizable projects planned to be executed in Dubai, ahead of Expo 2020. These projects include establishing new cities and tourist, commercial and real estate facilities.
Dubai Customs’ Director further noted that “Dubai enjoys a legislation infrastructure that incites investment and trade, opening wide the door for global companies, particularly IT companies, to come aboard and join Dubai’s shift into the world’s smartest city.”
Mr. Mahboob underlined that IT applications are widely used in facilitating Dubai’s foreign trade and achieving best results through a broad investment in cutting-edge technological and electronic equipment, made available to serve trade growth in ports, airports and border crossings. “We at Dubai Customs are committed to enhance Dubai’s commercial capabilities utilizing latest world-class IT applications in customs operations.”
IT applications provide a remarkable opportunity for developing customs work in areas of trade facilitation and expediting cargo clearance procedures, without compromising the safety and security of the community and economy, he said.
“Given the huge volume of containers and cargo we deal with every day, IT applications and latest technologies help in supporting examination and inspection of cargo as well as pre-determining risky shipments and referring them for inspection. Having to inspect all consignments would have caused delay in clearing cargos and this contradicts the goal of trade facilitation.”
Ahmed Mahboob explained that “One of Dubai Customs’ most prominent IT applications that contributed into trade facilitation is the “Risk Engine”; a smart system which is constantly fed with information from both internal and external entities. The Customs Intelligence Department at DC collects, links and analyses this information to find out the risks entered into the system which efficiently turns down any risky transactions and allows the automatic clearance and release of safe shipments.”
Since its introduction, the “Risk Engine” has aided in increasing seizures of nationally and internationally restricted and contraband items. The risk data efficiency amplified by 50% , with 84% of non-risky consignments now being electronically processed and evaluated in less than 2 minutes without any human intervention.
Ahmed Mahboob stressed that “It is a top priority for Customs authorities worldwide to combat counterfeiting that targets almost all products, including IT software and hardware. This is indeed our daily endeavour at Dubai Customs as we exert every possible effort to counter any attempts at smuggling counterfeited software and hardware appliances, seeking to safeguard this vital industry which is the cornerstone of the global economy and the overall human activity in a time of information and communication revolution. Such cause makes it imperative upon us to seek further collaboration at different levels, in order for us to achieve this goal.
Mr. Musabih urged for an across-the-board implementation of effective Customs systems that are capable of thwarting the influx fake IT products to global markets, including the development of a harmonized classification system for these goods as well as creating a coordination platform among Customs authorities around the globe to boost information sharing on the latest counterfeiting incidents worldwide.
On his part, Sheikh Mohamad Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, President, Bahrain Customs, underscored the importance of coordinating international efforts to curb the crime of trademark counterfeiting. “Bahrain Customs places utmost attention on business-government partnership to better facilitate trade flow, advance customs work and safeguard the community against fake and counterfeited products. The customs sector should keep abreast of an ever-changing world,” he said.
Addressing the forum, the Bahrain Customs’ senior officer also stressed the need to work together towards creating a better investment climate in the GCC region through stronger cooperation and exchange of expertise among the concerned authorities.
The forum saw an extensive participation of DC officials; Mr. Abdullah Mohammed Al Khaja, Acting Executive Director of Customer Management Division, Mr. Mohammed Al Muaini, Director of Customs Tariff & Origin Department, Mr. Saeed Al Tayer, Director of Land Customs Centres Management, Mr. Yousuf Ozair Mubarak, Director of IPR Department, Mr. Edris Behzad, Director of Customer Management Department, Fareeda Fadhil, Director of Customs Declaration Management alongside a number of inspection officials.
Following the opening ceremony, a dialogue session took place, with participation of Mr. Saeed Al Tayer, who emphasised that Dubai Customs implements a number of inter-linked systems to achieve its main objectives of trade facilitation through streamlined customs transactions clearance, while protecting the society and the economy from all threats by cracking down on smuggling.