Dubai Customs Director General and Chairman of India Customs and Taxes Central Department in a group photo with the members of Dubai Customs delegation
Dubai Customs and the Indian Customs agreed to cooperate in reengineering customs procedures and exchanging expertise on the customs development sectors as well as providing support to the business communities at both sides which aims to contribute to enhancing and developing trade exchanges between Dubai and the top trade partners in the world.
The agreement was made during Dubai Customs delegation’s visit to India. Headed by H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Dubai Customs Director General and comprised a number of executive directors and managers at the Department, the delegation sought to learn about the best implemented practices and conduct the benchmarking for a number of customs-related aspects between the two departments and discuss methods of fostering mutual trade, identifying the Indian business sector needs and solve all obstacles which might cripple trade between both sides.
During the four-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, the delegation met with Mr S.K. Goel, Chairman of Central Board of Excise & Customs ( CBEC), Mr. S. Kumar, Indian Customs’ Commissioner at Taxes Central Department, Mr. Ramindar Singh Sedoh, Director General of India Customs Intelligence Department and Mrs. Rashida Hussein, Director General of India Customs Academy.
H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed stated that the visit was fruitful as they got introduced to the customs clearance procedures and electronic solutions developed by the Indian Customs to achieve a balance between the business requirements and offered facilitations especially the applications of the utilized declarations forms which include 25 fields that allow customs clients to be aware of the goods description in terms of category, origin and valuation.
H.E. Ahmed Butti said that an agreement with the Indian side was made to exchange expertise in the field of reengineering procedures and building a database for valuation, improving the employees’ competencies at the Department in analyzing the data and benefiting from them through the leading Indian experience in this domain which ensures further facilitation and maintains balance with respect to the customs requirements especially the requirements of the World Trade Organization.
H.E. Ahmed Butti added that the delegation was introduced to the National Academy of Customs Excise’s experience and looked into the possibility of bringing some experts from the Academy to help set training system and programs for the customs business and the supporting business in the Dubai Customs Training Center. The Indian National Academy plays a major role in building customs capacity in the Eastern Asia region.
The visit was a response to an invitation by Mr. S. K. Goel to H.E. Ahmed Butti. Both sides convened in the Government House in Delhi to look into mutual interests and issues and set cooperation mechanism between the two especially on the technical ones.
H.E. Ahmed Butti accompanied by the delegates toured Nhava Shiva Port in Mumbai and met Mr. C. S. Prasad, Deputy CEO of the port and a number of high officials at the port which is considered a very vital Indian port. They were also introduced to the risk management at Indian Customs which resembles Dubai Customs Risk Engine. The visiting delegation demonstrated as well Mirsal2; the Electronic Customs Clearance System.
H.E. Ahmed Butti stated that the visit is highly essential taking into consideration the trade partnership relations between the two countries. He pointed out that India tops the list of trade partners with Dubai with over 42% growth rate for trade exchanges between both countries in the past five years, and over AED 100 billion for the first half of 2011; a 41% increase as opposed to the same period in 2010 which reached AED 71 billion. Diamonds and precious metals like gold and silver are the most traded goods between the two sides in addition to rice and electronics.
H.E. Ahmed Butti further noted that Dubai Customs is keen on providing all the necessary facilitations for the business communities in both countries so as to maintain the distinguished trade partnership which comes as an extension to the successful political and social relations between the countries’ leaders and the Emirati and Indian people.
H.E. Ahmed Butti was accompanied by Mr. Juma Al Ghaith, Executive Director of Customs Development Division, Mohammed Matar Al Marri, Executive Director of Customs Cargo Division, Doc, Aqeel Hadi, Advisor to H.E. Director General, Mr. Abbas Abdulla Makki, Executive Director of Dubai Customs World and External Relations and Training, Mr. Abdulla Al Shaer, Customs Intelligence Director and Mr. Kasim Pillai, Customs Expert at Dubai Customs. Mr. Mane Sultan Al Suwaidi, Trade Attaché in the UAE Embassy at New Delhi and Jay Dep, India Consul General Assistant joined the visiting delegation in their visit.