The Prime Minister follows up on implementation of the customs system development plan.
Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, followed up on implementation of the customs system development plan during a meeting held today, attended by Mr. Ahmed Kajouk, Minister of Finance, and Engineer Hassan El-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, and a number of officials from both ministries.
The Prime Minister confirmed that this meeting aims to review the progress of the customs system development plans due to their direct positive impact on enhancing the business environment and attracting investments in diverse productive sectors, thereby driving export growth and boosting trade.
During the meeting, Mr. Ahmed Kajouk, Minister of Finance, presented the most prominent measures implemented and planned within the plan to develop the customs system and reduce smuggling. He explained that automating the developed exports cycle is in the pipeline so that it includes all entities concerned with exporting and integration with all shipping lines, agencies, terminals and container yards, in addition to establishing export customs buildings at customs ports. Artificial intelligence will also be used in the automated valuation and classification of goods, in addition to implementing legislative amendments that included the installment of customs tax on production requirements in order to provide raw materials and production supplies , along with providing facilities for production projects, and new guarantees for foreign and Egyptian investors, in addition to activating the advance inquiry service, and activating the service of advance rulings binding on the Customs Authority and the client.
The minister added that customs system development plan also includes implementing the electronic bills of lading system as an alternative to paper bills of lading. Advance Cargo Information system (ACI) has also been implemented for air cargo to reduce the release time and benefit from advanced technical mechanisms, with receiving documents and data on shipments electronically from the foreign exporter abroad, in addition to facilitating the pre-clearance system, expanding the acceptance of electronic payments, increasing priorities in customs clearance procedures, allocating yards for containers belonging to the operator, with reducing the conditions that must be met to join the operator.
Mr. Ahmed Kajouk indicated that customs system development plan also includes enhancing transit trade by establishing companies for logistics service centers, issuing procedures guidance manuals for those dealing with the customs system, increasing the effectiveness of customs dispute resolution committees, in addition to updating the website of the Customs Authority, granting the advantage of customs clearance at the client’s location to companies listed on the white list and affiliated with the economic operator, as well as activating communication with those dealing with customs and identifying points of contact with the concerned authorities, in addition to reducing customs clearance times, and employees rotation within and between customs ports, along with training employees of the Customs Authority and raising their technical capabilities, and operating a set of developed customs applications ready for actual operation.
On his part, Engineer Hassan El-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, demonstrated the most prominent procedural reform efforts to reduce the time and costs of customs release, noting that the customs release time reached 5.8 days in June 2025, which contributed to reducing time and cost by 65%, and saving $1.5 billion. It is planned to reach the customs release time by the end of this year to two working days, reducing time and cost by 90% and saves about $2.1 billion. He explained that work during holidays contributed to speeding up the completion of procedures, as 92,850 procedures were carried out during 41 holiday days this year.
The Minister also reviewed the efforts of boosting competitiveness by reducing non-customs fees, in addition to steps to strengthen the technical and institutional infrastructure, including the adoption of the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) as an entity issuing Conformity Certificates for compliance with environmental standards, and launching the GOEIC's official electronic portal in three languages as a unified platform for services and information.
Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade tackled the situation regarding the plan to develop laboratory infrastructure to support exports and imports and enhance competitiveness. He noted that, in the light of the directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic to establish and develop model central testing laboratories, 13 new laboratories were implemented during 2025, and the total number of laboratories is 310, compared to 111 in 2018. He also mentioned the establishment of specialized technical units for issuing inspection and conformity certificates to meet the requirements of the international market. The Minister presented several prominent examples demonstrating the effectiveness of procedures of streamlining customs release time in enhancing the business environment.
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