The first World Customs Organization (WCO) East and Southern Africa (ESA) Research Conference took place in Harare, Zimbabwe on 4-5 June 2014. The event was organized by the WCO ESA Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) and hosted by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) provided funding.
Opening remarks were delivered by Ms. Christine Msemburi, the Executive Director for the WCO ESA ROCB in Nairobi, Kenya; Mrs. Anna Mutobodzi, the Acting Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority; Mr. Happias Kuzvinzwathe, Customs Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority; Mr. Robert Ireland, the Head of the WCO Research Unit in Brussels, Belgium; and Professor C. Hope Sadza, Founder and Founding Vice Chancellor of the Women’s University of Africa.
Following their selection in response to a Call for Papers, eight research papers were presented at the conference by representatives of Customs administrations, the private sector, and academia from the ESA region. The research focused on topics linked to trade facilitation, including information and communications technology (ICT), risk management, transit systems, measurement, and Customs-Business partnerships. The research papers will be consolidated and published in an e-book.
The work of the researchers was supervised by Mr. Creck Buyonge, Adjunct Associate Professor (Revenue & Customs) at the Centre for Customs & Excise Studies, University of Canberra, and Mr. Mark Goodger a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) and the University of Cape Town.
Ms. Msemburi congratulated the researchers for their sustained efforts and contributions to building knowledge on Customs matters in the region. “We need to be ruthless and honest as we write about ourselves so that we build a factual body of knowledge in Customs for East & Southern Africa” said Ms. Msemburi.
Mr. Ireland commended Ms. Msemburi for her leadership in organizing the conference. “This successful event is another step forward for the global Customs community in conducting research through systematic inquiry and consideration of local conditions in order to better inform policy formulation and implementation” said Mr. Ireland. Source: WCO
Filed under: Customs, Customs Academia, Customs core competency Tagged: Customs, Customs Administrations, Department for International Development, University of Canberra, University of Kwazulu Natal, WCO ESA Regional Office for Capacity Building, World Customs Organization, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
