success story

March 2009

Palestinian Customs contributes approximately NIS 3.4 billion to the Palestinian budget each year, yet the organization is not yet functioning at an optimal level and does not operate according to best international practice. Recognizing their importance to the Palestinian economy and their responsibility to the local, regional, and international trade community, PA Customs has set out to make some significant changes.

As part of an ongoing effort to support PA Customs within the Ministry of Finance, the USAID Trade Facilitation Project (TFP) organized a joint World Customs Organization (WCO)-Palestinian Customs workshop. For five days, approximately 40 stakeholders from Palestinian Customs, Palestinian Authority ministries, the Palestinian private sector, and international organizations came together to help upgrade and modernize the Palestinian customs administration, create partnerships with other members of the Palestinian public and private sectors, and work towards obtaining observer status at the WCO. After numerous meetings, discussions, and debates, the group reached consensus on a draft five year strategic plan to strengthen operations and establish effective working relationships between Customs, other government agencies, and the private sector dealing with customs and revenue-related trade issues. Current plans call for the development document to be ratified at a regional WCO meeting planned for May 2009 in Jericho.

The WCO's Deputy Director of Capacity Building, Mr. Joe Kelly, facilitated the process of developing the strategic plan in support of Palestinian Customs' goals. TFP will continue to support Customs in refining the development plan and in implementing the plan once it has been approved and adopted.

According to Mr. Hatem Yousef, Director General of PA Customs and VAT, "The plan is significant for two reasons: first, it will introduce a 'single window' approach to border management activities whereby all functions will be channeled through a single organizational point of reference, and second, it will introduce a 'single file' approach to border revenue collection in the commercial sector whereby all collections are channeled through a single reporting and collection mechanism."

The new plan is expected to strengthen ties among stakeholders, allow them to share development costs, and attract donor funding through economies of scale built into the plan. Mr. Yousef added, "together, the new features of the plan will facilitate and promote the movement of trade, and allow Palestinian Customs to meet its national, regional, and international responsibilities in revenue collection, trade management, social protection, and statistics collection."