BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/10/2008

EU customs services express interest in close cooperation with Belarus

The customs services of the European Union member states supported the initiative of the Belarusian delegation to elaborate further tactical steps aimed at expanding the participation in the pilot project allowing for prior exchange of customs information. Alexander Shpilevsky, the chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus, took part in an international conference on customs cooperation at the EU's eastern border which was held on October 9-10 2008 in Vienna, BelTA learnt from the press service of the State Customs Committee.

Representatives of the EU customs services acknowledged that the system of prior exchange of information about goods and vehicles traveling through the border of the Republic of Belarus and the borders of the EU member states initiated by Belarus is very promising. Alexander Shpilevsky drew special attention to the necessity to involve Belarus in the EU pilot project on prior exchange of information between customs services in the format EU-Belarus, EU-Russia-Belarus, Poland-Belarus, Lithuania-Belarus, Latvia-Belarus.

Belarus has been actively creating a modern-day customs infrastructure and telecommunication network at the border crossing points as part of the efforts aimed at increasing the transit flow of goods, Alexander Shpilevsky said at a plenary session.

According to Alexander Shpilevsky, the Belarusian customs service is open for cooperation with the foreign customs bodies as well as business communities, and is ready to service a growing transport transit and provide quick and high-quality services for transited goods at the Belarusian border.

At the conference in Vienna the Belarusian customs officials jointly with their Polish colleagues made a presentation "Benchmarks of the check-points at the Polish-Belarusian border and measures to facilitate trade" that was of great interest for colleagues from Westesrn Europe.

In the course of the visit to Vienna the SCC Chairman held a number of bilateral consultations with the heads of the delegations of the customs services of Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania and Moldova. Alexander Shpilevsky also met with Robert Verrue, Director General of Tax and Customs Union at the European Commission who praised the cooperation between the customs bodies of the European Commission and the Republic of Belarus, and showed interest in regular contacts with the SCC officials to consider customs cooperation issues.

The two sides reached an agreement on a visit of a EC delegation to Belarus to get familiar with the activities of the Belarusian customs service, discuss a draft agreement on cooperation between the Commission of the European Communities and the State Customs Committee.

Source:

http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1319448&lang=EN

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