• Excellency, Mr. President of the National Assembly;
• Mr. Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance;
• Members of the Cabinet;
• Gentlemen of the Former Directors General of Customs and Indirect Rights;
• Mr. Secretary General of the Benin Customs Union (SYDOB);
• Mr. President of the Mutual Customs Service of Benin (MUDO);
• Mr. Director General of SEGUB;
• Mr. Director General of BENIN CONTROL SA;
• Mr. Director General of WEBB FONTAINE;
• Mr President of FEBECAD;
• Ladies and gentlemen, Central and Departmental Technical Directors of Customs Administration;
• Ladies and gentlemen, Chiefs of Central Services, Chiefs of Rapid Intervention Services, Receivers, Chiefs of Visits, Chiefs of Brigades, Chiefs of Post;
• Ladies and gentlemen, Officers, NCOs and Customs Officers;
• Ladies and gentlemen, Computer scientists, Econometer, Planner, Statistician, Secretaries, Administrative Vehicle Operators and all technical and administrative staff of the Customs Administration;
• Dear friends of the print and audiovisual press;
• Dear relatives and friends;
• Honourable Guests;
• Ladies and gentlemen in your respective ranks, ranks and qualities.

I would like, at the outset, to express my gratitude to all those who wanted to make the move this day, despite the particular context in which the whole world is facing an unprecedented health crisis. I appreciate that.
I would also like to express my best wishes to you and to all your families at the beginning of this new year.
May God's grace allow everyone to live a wonderful year 2021 made of HEALTH, PEACE, PROSPERITY; and may our dear nation, in its momentum since 2016, advance inexorably towards progress.
Dear Partners,
Colleagues,
Placed under the aegis of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and traditionally celebrated on 26 January of each year, International Customs Day is an opportunity to highlight the work of men and women who, within the customs administration or in relations with customs administrations, contribute to the fulfilment of Customs missions in order to achieve its objectives. It is also an opportunity to publicly recognize and congratulate the merits of the latter.
This year's celebration coincides with our first restitution session in 2021, which, scheduled to take place at the beginning of each quarter, has been suspended since April 2020, due to the health constraints associated with the VOCID-19 pandemic. As you know, this periodic meeting in our Administration since May 2017 is, on the one hand, an opportunity for managers to return missions and other capacity-building training to our Administration and, on the other hand, an opportunity to review the reforms undertaken and assess the performance achieved. In short, today's meeting is a crucible that offers us the opportunity to assess the progress we have made and to reaffirm our determination to meet together the new challenges we will face throughout this year.
What is really the way?
Since July 2016, our Administration, under the leadership of the government, has initiated a series of reforms that have been piloted in perfect intelligence with our technical partners, BENIN CONTROL and WEBB FONTAINE; (partners whom I respectfully ask you to do very much).
Thanks to very ambitious metamorphosis initiatives through the control of customs value, the scanning of goods at the port of Cotonou and Hilla-Condji, electronic tracking of goods in transit and the dematerialization of customs clearance procedures, the modernization of Benin's customs ecosystem has become a model for the West African subregion. As proof, I want the many missions of impregnation of the brother-country that we have received in the framework of South-South cooperation.
Through this gigantic project, the Government of the Republic of Benin is determined to facilitate international trade in accordance with the requirements of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It undertakes, with rare determination, to offer a quality service to economic operators and other external trade actors; and position itself as a safe and secure investment destination.
We are on our way to make the Benin Customs Administration one of the most modern in the subregion by 2021 and to improve the Business Climate in our country through the introduction of innovative cross-border trade procedures.
In order to achieve these objectives, Benin has developed and established a Single External Trade Window (GUCE).
Launched in January 2018, the Single Window for Foreign Trade (GUCE) is a virtual window that will gradually consolidate all foreign trade information into a single transactional portal, in order to allow anyone wishing to trade to or from Benin to be clearly informed about the procedure to be followed, and to receive adequate assistance, in order to carry out their online business operations. The deployment of several modules at today's date has resulted in the dematerialization of a large part of the paper documents required for import and export operations. This dematerialization has led to the reduction of processing times (currently an average of 2.9 days) by eliminating the physical filing of supporting documents from the process.
Since November 2020, with e-payment now available on the www.guce.bj platform, some payments can be made online through bank transfers, credit cards or via Mobile Money.
In addition, thanks to the implementation of the WEBB TRACKER app, which can be downloaded free of charge from Apple store and Google Play, economic operators and other external trade players will be able to follow the various phases of the customs clearance process from their smartphones or computers.
Through the GUCE, Benin plans to build a strong economy on an innovative and efficient customs culture.
Although the business world has not yet seen a significant decrease in transaction costs, the reduction of the interface with government officials involved in foreign trade is expected to lead to a reduction in costs in the short term.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the facilitation measures introduced in recent years have had a positive impact on customs revenues which have increased significantly over the years.
In 2017, the year of the reforms, the performance achieved increased by 23 billion CFA francs compared to 2016, 52 billion CFA francs in 2018 compared to 2017 and 6 billion CFA francs in 2019 compared to 2O18, an average increase of 8.06 %; while the level of revenues before the reforms had declined since 2014, increasing successively from 395,983 billion to 365,035 billion in 2015 and to 349,635 billion in 201, an average decrease of more than 6%.
As part of the results of fiscal year 2020, Beninese customs managed to mobilize approximately 356 billion CFA francs on a forecast of 328.5 billion CFA francs (revised forecasts due to the health context); This corresponds to a realization rate of 108.3%. This, despite the closure of Nigerian borders since August 2019 (about 17 months), systematically and brutally led to the suspension of trade with the country.
To this end, it is worth recalling the importance and prominence of Nigeria in cross-border trade with Benin. This demonstrates the resilience shown by the Benin Customs Administration.

Speaking of resilience, let me inform you that the 2021 edition of International Customs Day is dedicated to the joint efforts of customs to curb the coronavirus crisis and support individuals and businesses, strengthening the global supply chain, strengthening collaboration, leveraging technology and placing people at the heart of change, under the slogan: « Recovery, Renewal, Resilience: Customs at the service of a sustainable supply chain ».
Colleagues,
Dear Partners;
Distinguished guests,
The year 2020 will probably have been a pivotal year, as challenging as it is learning, such as a test or an obstacle to overcome. But today, thanks to God and with the involvement of everyone, we can say that the record remains positive. The results of 2020 are the result of energy, collective intelligence, cohesion, self-denial and dedication to the work of all. In these solemn moments, our thanks and prayers go of course to the President of the Republic, Mr Athanase Patrice Guillaume TALON, as well as to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr Romuald WADAGNI, for their unwavering support, with at the key, the provision of thirty (30) brand new vehicles including twenty (20) FORD RANGER, pick-up double cabin and ten (10) 4×4 Toyota land cruiser, the organization of professional trainings for the benefit of sixty-three (63) officer students, twenty (20) students Customs officers and promotion to the rank of Inspector of the 1st class of a customs inspector.
With regard to strengthening the operational capacity of Beninese customs, particularly in the fight against smuggling, it is made available to our administration:
– seven hundred and fifty (750) AKM 7.62mm assault rifles and one hundred and fifty thousand (1,50,000) ammunitions of the same calibre;
– 100 Nato Automatic Guns;
– one hundred (100) Pump rifles;
– fifteen (15) metal cabinets;
– 34 computers;
– fifty (50) printers;
– thirty (30) air conditioners;
– ten (10) photocopiers;
– Seventy (70) inverters;
– fifty (50) visitor chairs;
– ten (10) executive chairs;
– ten (10) checkpoint H21 security devices;
– and many other materials.
Colleagues, although remarkable, these results are just the beginning of achieving the colossal goals and commitments we have made to our leaders, with a view to the transformation of our Administration. That is why we must not be content with it, let alone blur the progression curve we have been on since 2017. If the good conduct of the reform projects initiated since 2016 has led us to achieve these results, we can, without a blow, anticipate a better tomorrow because it is in the combination of our efforts, our expertise, that we can improve our performance through the establishment of modern control tools, guaranteeing the modernization of any Customs administration.
Get already here, all my congratulations and above all, my encouragement to stay on course for better results.
To this end, we must now arm ourselves with much more patience and courage; for we must not bear in mind that we serve the Republic and therefore the whole nation. You are soldiers of the economy, models, and as such, you must set an example and now cultivate excellence everywhere, and especially in your workplace. (Applause for yourself)
Before I finish, I would also like to congratulate the economic operators, the Commissionaires Accredité en Douane, all the actors of the port platform and the other actors of the External Trade for their unprecedented support in the implementation of the reforms; and at the same time invite them to use, without any moderation, all the modern tools deployed in the framework of the digitization of the customs clearance procedures.
Finally, I call on all the people to accompany the customs authorities in their noble and exciting tasks of collecting revenue and combating fraud in all its forms.
Long live WCO!!!
Long live Benin Customs !!!
Long live Benin!!!
Thank you.