Ministry of Finance Inaugurates Central Customs Control System to Fight Corruption and Provide Transparency in Customs Department

On June 13, 2020, H.E. Abdul HadiArghandiwal, Acting Minister of Finance inaugurated the central customs control system.

Opening this center aims to prevent customs violations like processing goods without custom duties,frequent staff change, andcontrol weight and quality of goods.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of people in Wolesi Jirga, representatives of private sector, and a number of officials from the Ministry of Finance.

Mr. Mohammad EissaQudrat, Deputy Minister of Finance for Customs and Revenue welcomed and briefed the participants about the center, and the use of technology in reform programs of the Customs Department.

 “Reform and system development is one of our prioriesto ensure transparency and efficiency of work processes in customs department. Today we are inaugurating the central custom control system; this is one of the major steps in reducing corruption and providing ease to the process of customs cargos,” stated Acting Minister of Finance.

 “Currently five major customoffices in the country, Nangarhar, Nimruz, Aqina, Herat and Kandahar, are connected to this system. With implementing this project in customs offices of the country, scanners, digital cameras and high tonnage scales will be installed by which we can control and monitor the process of commercial cargos from zero point gate Customs area to exit gate,” the Acting Minister added.

Meanwhile, Mir Afghan Safi, chairperson of the Budget and Finance Commission of Wolesi Jirga, and Mohammad SadiqQaderi, chairperson of Complains Commission of Wolesi Jirga admired this initiative and assured the Ministry of Finance to cooperate in the efforts for transparency and the fight against corruption.

Further, on behalf of the private sector, Mohammad YunusMomand, Vice-Chairman of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan, applauded this initiative by the Ministry of Finance,and asked for more facilities in the revenue sources.

It is worth mentioning that, this project is implemented and will be operated by the Indian CompaniesNewGen Technologies and ParimaSung; the project is worth 1.36 million USD.