With USAID and Swedish Government support, EBA members and project beneficiaries engage in constructive discussions with the Customs Service

On February 21, with grant support by USAID and the Swedish Government, EBA members and Moldova Competitiveness Project beneficiaries met with the Customs Service management team, in the format of a business breakfast organised by EBA. The participants expressed their concerns on concrete issues related to customs administration.

The event started with a presentation on behalf of the Customs Service, where the speakers Iurie Ceban, Deputy Director General, Rosario de Blasio, EU High-Level Adviser on Customs and Natalia Calenic, Head of Strategic Management division, presented the benefits of the recent initiatives that have been launched. The initiatives include new procedures in E-customs clearing, issuing certificates of origin and implementing some aspects of the transit system.

In the presence of members and associations which actively engage in import/export, EBA Executive Director underlined that customs procedures need to simplified, especially for small producers, and encouraged the companies to use the available instruments provided by the Customs Service in Moldova. The participants continued the discussions, with topics ranging from VAT, list of documents, customs value of goods, terminals infrastructure, re-exportation regime to local clearance procedure and customs seals.

As a follow-up, EBA will organize a meeting on issuing certificates of origin, at the Prime Minister’s Economic Council and will elaborate a position paper in which the challenges of the members will be presented to the Customs Service. EBA thanks the management team for their involvement and encourages the creation of more simplified clearance instruments which will sustain Moldovan exports.

This event is organised by EBA with the support of Moldova Competitiveness Project, financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The content does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government or Sida and the Government of Sweden.