The WCO ESA Regional Office for Capacity Building, in conjunction with the African Union Commission (AUC) and GIZ have organized the first ESA Regional Customs ICT Conference under the theme: “
“Accelerating Digitalization in Customs to boost intra- African trade”
The 1st ESA Regional Customs ICT Conference is scheduled to take place on the 3rd & 4th of November 2022, and will be hosted by the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) in Kigali, Rwanda. The conference will focus on enhancing Customs performance and increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of Customs’ mandate as well as boosting Intra-African trade through the use of Information Technology.
Background
The ESA Regional Strategy (2022-2025) recognizes the critical role played by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for reform and modernization of the region and in particular, Customs administrations. Key components towards its successful implementation are digitization and data management. As Africa continues recovering in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the place of information technology cannot be better underscored at this time. More administrations have increased their investment in ICT over the last two years, through progressive change management, integrating new and latest technologies and plans in delivering their mandate.
Meanwhile, the region continues to build institutional capacity and the body of knowledge in Customs through research, knowledge and information sharing as well as sharing and benchmarking on best practices.