ECA begins four-month ICT capacity training for Ethiopian Customs Officials
By Mercy Wambui, with Yinka Adeyemi, ECA
02 August 2005

ECA’s Development Information Services Division (DISD) this week launched a four-month capacity building training workshop for Ethiopian Customs Authority officials as part of the Division’s efforts at strengthening ICT applications in socio-economic sectors of African countries. The workshop is taking place at the Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA),

The training modules, which have been customized to the Ethiopian contexts, include sessions on establishing and maintaining information networks, database management and GIS tools for surveillance and enforcement. Participants expected to benefit from this programme include Addis Ababa-based officials and Customs officers from various ports of the country.

This initiative is a result of an official request to ECA from the Government of Ethiopia to build the capacity of its Customs Authority to effectively implement and maintain an UNCTAD software product, known as ASYCUDA, which is a computerized management system. The system handles manifest, customs declarations, accounting procedures, and transit and suspense procedures. It also generates trade data that can be used for statistical economic analysis and provides Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) between traders and Customs.

In an opening remark, , Officer-in-charge of DISD, Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, said that the training programme constituted two important components of the African Information Society Initiatve (AISI) - assisting countries to adopt and use ICTs for trade and public administration (e-Government).

“The important role ICTs play in trade facilitation cannot be over emphasized; the numbers of hours or days that can be cut at ports due to the introduction of ICTs in customs processes all contribute to measuring the readiness of countries for international trade transactions,” said Ms. Opoku-Mensah.

She added that the usage of ICTs by Ethiopian Customs was an “e-government objective aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery of a public institution.”

Currently the characteristics of trade procedures in African countries include multiple administrative agencies, repetitive/duplication of information, substantial delays for document clearance, congestion within port areas, and high transaction costs. There are now calls for streamlined trade documentation and goods clearance procedures for reduction of delays and costs while maintaining adequate control on flow of goods, simplification of processes and documents as well as alignment to international standards. ICTs will facilitate such transmission and processing of trade documentation.

Ethiopia is computerizing its Customs processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness but also faced with scarcity of skilled manpower for this kind of transformation. Deputy General Manager, Tariff and Operations, Ato Lemma Gudessa acknowledged in his opening remarks that ECA’s support at a time the Authority is preparing to upgrade the ASYCUDA software, is “very important and timely”.

DISD’s Geoinformation expert, Chukwudozie Ezigbalike, highlighted the importance of the module on GIS tools for Customs, stressing that there could be a number of location- based queries and interactive maps that could be used by Customs officers, especially in tracking goods, surveillance and enforcement.