Egypt's finance minister Mohamed Maait affirmed on Monday the keenness of the government on promoting international cooperation to cut down the time needed for customs clearance, rationalizing custom duties and toughening up supervision on customs outlets. The aforementioned measures would contribute to improving the international trade movement and place to a higher level Egypt's rank by the World Bank. "A set of agreements on the Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters will be signed with some countries in the coming period," the minister said in statements. These agreements come to ensure the establishment of bilateral cooperation in the accurate assessment of goods, to determine taxes and customs duties, implement customs laws and identify prohibited goods such as weapons and narcotics and to address customs violations, the minister explained. The Egyptian Customs Authority, in cooperation with the US Customs Administration, finalized the draft of the preliminary agreement on "mutual assistance in customs matters" between Egypt and the US in preparation for referral to the competent authorities to review and take the necessary measures towards putting it into effect. The cooperation agreement with Belarus is expected to be signed during the sixth session of the Egyptian-Belarus Economic Committee, which will be held in September in the Belarus capital, Maait added. Maait explained the initial formula will be reviewed before referral to the competent authorities to take the necessary measures towards its entry into force. The minister pointed out that coordination is currently underway with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to start a round of negotiations with the EU on the mechanisms to provide information on goods exchanged between the two sides (brand, value and country of origin).
