Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade General Organization for Export and Import Control

In the presence of Eng. Essam El-Naggar, Chairman of General Organization for Export and Import Control, Eng. Hassan Al-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade holds an expanded meeting with the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Maritime Navigation Chambers and a number of officials from ministries and concerned bodies for discussing methods of upgrading the efficiency of customs release processes and improving performance in the logistics centers.

The Minister stressed the State's interest to improve the customs release system in a way that contributes to facilitating the business community and facilitating the movement of foreign trade in Egypt, indicating the importance of enhancing the efforts of various concerned parties to reduce the time and cost of customs release processes to reach only two days during the coming year.

Al-Khatib called for the necessity of increasing the number of daily working hours and working days, at banks branches that serve the customs release system and shipping agencies along with a focus on facilitating procedures and accelerating their pace.

The Minister pointed out the significance of complete coordination through the electronic platform "Single Window", along with setting up a joint committee that comprises the Foreign Trade Sector, Customs,  General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and all Regulatory Bodies to hold monthly meetings to address any difficulties that may face investors and shipping agencies, stressing the necessity of taking immediate measures to accelerate the pace of work according to the developed customs system, by compressing the schedule for the customs release at various ports, and making use of the advantages provided by the "Single Window" platform, in addition to overcoming the congestion at ports and solving the shortage of workers in the customs system, in addition to raising the efficiency of the human element through continuous training in line with the development and mechanization of the customs system.

Al-Khatib denoted the importance of amending the legislations related to customs, importing and exporting as a preliminary step to improve the efficiency of customs release and implementing advance release in cooperation with the relevant authorities, pointing out the importance of continuous coordination with the regulatory authorities, increasing the number of workers in these bodied and extending the working hours, when necessary, to accelerate the completion of procedures.

For his part, Major General Essam El-Naggar, Chairman of the General Organization for Export and Import Control, reviewed a report on the results of implementing the Cabinet Resolution that all entities affiliate to the customs release system will work throughout the week, referring that this resolution can contribute to facilitating customs release processes and preventing the accumulation of goods at customs ports.

In their turn, officials of the bodies concerned with customs release requested the shipping agencies to provide collection services on Fridays and Saturdays to avoid delays in payment of fees and facilitate procedures.

The meeting attended by Dr. Tarek El-Hobi, Chairman of the National Food Safety Authority, Mr. Essam Omar, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Major General Tarek Abdullah, Head of the Maritime Transport and Logistics Sector at Ministry of Transport, Mr. Ahmed El-Wakil, Chairman of the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, in addition to a number of officials of Navigation Chambers, Customs Authority and Transport Departments.