Mr Alain HINKATI, Director General of Customs, attended the regional closing meeting on SIGMAT, the Interconnected Transit Cargo Management System, alongside his peers on Friday 09 June 2023. Opportunity for Alain HINKATI to discuss with the other Director Generals of Customs in the subregion on cooperation between customs administrations. At the end of the meeting on signing several agreements, a final communiqué was issued.

In the framework of the project "Facilitating Transit, Transport and Trade in West Africa for Better Participation in Value Chains" UNCTAD co-organized with the World Bank's Programme for Trade Facilitation in West Africa (PFEAO) a regional meeting on the Interconnected Transit Merchandise Management System (SIGMAT) for the evaluation of the interconnection of customs administration information systems and for the signature of protocols of agreement and framework agreements between several countries in the region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The objective of this meeting is to propel a new dynamic to the implementation of SIGMAT in the subregion. These are:

• Evaluate the SIGMAT solution for interconnected corridors;
• Signing regulatory texts between non-interconnected countries;
• Allowing countries that have just started the process to soak up the experience of already interconnected corridors

Within the framework of the UNCTAD project, this subregional meeting between the four project countries (Benin, Burkina-Faso, Niger and Togo) and the partners concerned aims to share the results of the surveys on the Cotonou-Niamey and Lomé-Ougadougou corridors, the experiences of operators and road hauliers in transit and the trade challenges and obstacles they face. This meeting is a lever to strengthen dialogue in order to improve the fluidity of the two corridors and the operations of the Juxtaposed Control Posts in Malanville and Cinkassé with the ultimate aim of improving the facilitation of trade and border crossing of goods in transit in the subregion.

In the context of securing transit operations and facilitating trade procedures, the Trade Facilitation Programme in West Africa (FEAO) supported the efforts of the Regional Economic Communities (ECDEAO and UEMOA) and the Customs Authorities of the countries of the subregion to establish a regional programme for the interconnection of customs administration computer systems. This project called SIGMAT (Interconnected Transit Commodity Management System) aims to connect customs offices in the ECOWAS region to facilitate regional freight transit and licit international trade.

Final communiqué of the meeting

From 08 to 09 June 2023, held in Lomé, Togo, the meeting of the Directors General of Customs on the Interconnected System of Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT) between the Customs Administrations Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Representatives of ECOWAS, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group, ICZ and JICA also participated.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Commissioner General of the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR), Mr Philippe Kokou B. TCHODIE.

This meeting of the Directors General was preceded by the meeting of experts from the customs administrations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, on 05, 06 and 07 June 2023.

In the margins of the expert meeting, a meeting was held organized by the ECOWAS Commission on the development of a road map for the deployment of SIGMAT in other ECOWAS member States. The meeting was attended by the following member States: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

During the General Directors' meeting, the experts submitted for their assessment and validation the draft Protocol on the Agreement and Framework Directive on the interconnection of the computer systems of customs administrations of ECOWAS member States.

At the end of their meeting, the Directors General of Customs, After amendments, validated the final report of the experts' work. They also amended, validated and signed the Protocol of Agreement and the Framework Instruction.

         General Customs Directors committed ensure the implementation of the recommendations made, in particular:

• For the customs administrations of ECOWAS member states :
  • to move towards the common configuration of the DDU and the harmonisation of the codification of customs procedures;
  • take measures to regulate the operations of the inspection of goods in the event of suspected irregularities;
  • ensure that the results of checks are sent to the offices of departure;
  • strengthen the training and awareness of customs officers and operators on the use of SIGMAT.

• To ECOWAS:
  • establish a single regional identification mechanism for economic operators;
  • finalize the SIGMAT procedures manual;
  • to speed up the implementation of the Regulation on the Community transit guarantee mechanism;
  • to propose to the next meeting of the Steering Committee a mechanism for the management and sustainability of activities involved in the implementation of SIGMAT in the Member States.

• For technical and financial partnerscontinue to support customs administrations in capacity building.

The Directors General of Customs of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal expressed their deep appreciation to the Commissioner General of the OTR and his staff for the warm welcome and hospitality they and their delegations received during their stay in Lomé.

They also expressed their appreciation to the World Bank Group and all technical and financial partners.

The Directors General of Customs of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo agreed:

• entrust the chairmanship of the Steering Committee in Togo until the next meeting;
• hold the next meeting of the Steering Committee in Ghana in December 2023.

It is therefore clear that the regional meeting is an opportunity for invited countries that are in the process of integrating the interconnection process to benefit, on the one hand, from the experience of already interconnected countries, and, on the other hand, from possible exchanges on draft work schedules with the project committees of other countries.