Organised by The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) with support from World Customs Organization (WCO), the capacity building forum was designed to equip participants with up-to date developments in the area of international trade as well as to impart knowledge to be able to ideal with goods under ETLS effectively.
Delivering his closing remarks, Alhagie K Mbye, deputy commissioner of Customs Operations, deputising for the Commissioner General, behalf of the management of the authority and board of directors, thanked the experts from European Union and WCO for the support rendered, while urging participants to make best use the knowledge gained and put it into good practice.
He, however, reminded that rules of origins are generally the criteria used to determine the national source of a product.
“Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports. The origin or source of a product in international trade is important for numerous reasons including and not limited to the application of the most –favoured nation treatment (MFN), but also for the implementation of a number of commercial policy measures such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties, trade embargoes, safeguard measures and quantitative restrictions or tariff quotas.”
A participant, who gave the vote of thanks, commended the management of GRA through the Office of the Commissioner General for the foresight in convening this important training.
The training, he added, would go a long way in adding value in the discharge of their duties.
However, participants at the just concluded training, recommended the need for GRA management to initiative similar trainings of this nature for the staff, as they believe, it would help them a lot in their career as customs officers.
