Several local customs officers, as well as stakeholders in the public and private sector benefitted from a customs and trade facilitation capacity workshop, conducted today at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA.)
The workshop, held in the agency’s Training Room, at Camp Street, forms part of a slew of capacity building initiatives being implemented across the region, under the Caribbean Forum CARIFORUM–EU (European Union) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The training project was funded by the EU under the 10th EDF (Economic Development Fund) for capacity building within CARIFORUM states. It focuses not only on custom and trade facilitation, but also on areas relating to competition and public procedure.
Opening the workshop in Guyana were Commissioner-General (ag), GRA, Ingrid Griffith, Chairman of the entity’s Governing Board, Rawle Welch and Director, EPA Implementation Unit, Carlos Wharton.
According to a GINA statement, Griffith described the workshop as a “win-win situation”, where everybody stands to gain from an initiative that will make the process of trade easier.
The Commissioner-General (ag) observed that Government gains, because the workshop is expected to result in efficient procedures, in the process of moving goods, that will consequently lead to an increase in government revenue.
She noted that businesses gain because they will be able to deliver goods quicker to their customers, and the consumers gain since it is expected that the goods would be had at a much cheaper cost.
She commended the organisers of the training programme and encouraged each participant to raise awareness, and to share the information gathered with other officers and stakeholders. (GINA)
