Edward Kieswetter, head of the South African Revenue Service, said on Monday that he had been re-elected as WCO chairman for a second term from 2024 to 2025.
South African Revenue Service (SARS) chief Edward Kieswetter has been elected chair of the World Customs Organization (WCO) council for a second one-year term.
The WCO is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for customs matters, including the development and streamlining of customs procedures to stimulate commercial supply and international trade. The WCO Council is the supreme decision-making body of the organisation, which has its headquarters in Brussels.
Mr Kieswetter said on Monday that he had been re-elected as WCO chairman for a second term from 2024 to 2025.
« Central to the role of the WCO Chairperson is to ensure that the WCO Secretariat has both the capacity and the focus to meet the needs of Customs administrations worldwide. ” said the SARS chief.
He said the WCO was becoming increasingly important, given technological innovations and big data that facilitate trade, the growth of e-commerce, as well as global uncertainties manifesting in the geopolitical landscape.
« The primary objectives of the WCO and all its member countries are to promote legitimate trade, prevent trade in illicit and harmful goods, and ensure the safe movement of goods and people across the borders that divide the world. ” he detailed.
The WCO plays an important role in promoting the harmonisation and digitalisation of border procedures to ensure safer, faster and more sustainable trade.
The lack of harmonised procedures has been identified as one of the factors hampering trade by causing unnecessary delays.
JN/lb/ac/Sf/APA
