To professionalize the clearing agents in the East Africa region, the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) has sponsored 78 clearing agent trainings in Burundi on customs procedures and certified them for practice. This is to make them ambassadors for the Port of Mombasa and the Northern Corridor.
This year’s 16-day training equipped the clearing and forwarding agents with the necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise to effectively and efficiently handle customs clearance processes for imported and exported goods.
The training for Burundi clearing and forwarding agents had the following objectives: improve the professionalism of Burundi clearing agents by upgrading them to the same level as their counterparts across the Northern Corridor region; ensure improved facilitation of trade along the transport corridors used by the country; and reduce delays and costs related to clearance of goods.
When launching the programme, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry, and Tourism in Burundi, Ms. Niragira Christine, emphasized the importance of not leaving the private sector behind in the government’s efforts to improve the public sector. She lauded the training as a key step in achieving efficiency.
The training was a collaboration between Office Burundais des Recettes (OBR), a semi-autonomous public revenue collection institution in Burundi, and ABADT, the national association of freight and forwarding companies in Burundi. Stressing the Northern Corridor’s mandate to facilitate trade, Omae Nyarandi, the Executive Secretary of the Northern Corridor Secretariat, highlighted the importance of equipping clearing agents for greater efficiency to enhance the seamless movement of goods.
Floribert NZOYIHERA, the Chairman of ABADT pledged continued cooperation adding that the much-needed training will be essential for the improvement of customs agents’ work and their growth.
“Clearing agents help in revenue collection and therefore there will be an improvement in the quality of their work as well as increased revenue collection for the government,” he said.
The NCTTCA fully sponsored the course. In the recent past, there have been renewed efforts to professionalize the clearing and forwarding sector in the region. A joint venture of the East Africa Community (EAC) Directorate of Customs, the revenue authorities in the region, and the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA), the umbrella body of customs agents in the EAC region rolled out a Continuous Curriculum Development (CPD) for freight forwarders.
The need to train customs agents continuously was conceived during a market survey that was conducted in 2019, which identified the gaps in aligning the sector to real labor market needs. The mandatory East Africa Customs and Freight Forwarding Practicing Certificate (EACFFPC), which has been offered to practicing clearing agents since 2007 required additional interventions to produce professionals ready to plug in.
The CPD program is meant to bridge the skills gaps and focuses on technical competencies, emerging issues, and the personal development of practitioners to enhance professionalism and compliance with the existing regulations.
This is expected to reduce the time in processing cargo through customs, thus significantly contributing to a reduction in the cost and time of transport and logistics in Kenya and the East African Community (EAC) region, according to Elias Baluku, the acting Executive Director of FEAFFA.
Baluku added that logistics sector professionals, like those in other disciplines, need to constantly address knowledge and skills gaps for them to effectively serve importers and exporters, as well as customs administrations. The national associations, with support from FEAFFA, have already drafted a bill that awaits the parliamentary process to become a law to regulate the clearing agent’s industry.
“Constant updates through training are key in enabling customs agents to provide quality services,” Baluku said, adding that the revenue authorities should consider making the CPD program part of their administrative requirements when vetting and licensing clearing and Forwarding Agents.
In 2021, the 39th meeting of the EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance, and Investment (SCTIFI) directed the EAC Partner States to work with Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders in their respective countries to develop and implement CPD programs for customs agents and freight forwarders in their partner states.
The NCTTCA is also supporting other projects along the corridor and in Burundi. This includes the promotion of roadside stations in Bugarama, a road safety campaign by identifying the black spots, and providing equipment with technology for measuring the roughness of the road which informs authorities on where repairs and construction should be prioritized. The Northern Corridor has been doing major campaigns on addressing other non-tariff barriers and has been an ardent supporter of the campaign against overloading.
“NCTTCA is not competing against the Central Corridor but emphasizes the importance of efficiency in both corridors as they complement one another. I pledge our continued support and collaboration with all the stakeholders in Burundi,” Nyarandi said.
Ms. Niragira Christine, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism in Burundi said that as the government embarks on improving the public sector, it’s very important for the development of the country not to leave behind the private sector.
“To achieve efficiency and seamless movement of people and goods along the corridor, it is very important to have an efficient and effective private sector,” Ms Niragira said.
“Therefore, it is good news that this training will give the trainees knowledge that will be important not just in Burundi but across the region. I implore the participants to use the knowledge for the development of the country and the region at large. I urge them to learn and pass on the knowledge to help others,” she added.
This article was published by the editorial team at FEAFFA. For any enquiries, contact us via Email: editorial@feaffa.com/ freightlogistics@feaffa.com / onionga@feaffa.com Tel: +254733780240
