UAE and S. Korea Sign Customs Cooperation Agreement

Represented by the Federal Customs Authority (FCA) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) respectively, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Republic of Korea (RoK) signed the Customs Technical and Administrative Cooperation Agreement. The Agreement was signed last week, during the visit of Korean customs delegation, led by Minkling Lee, the Deputy Director of Bilateral Cooperation Division of Korea Customs Service, to the UAE.

"The signing of this agreement is a part of the FCA's plan to achieve its strategic goals: protecting the security of the society, facilitating the movement of trade and enhancing cooperation with the outside world through the exchange of information and experience with the most important trade partner in the world," said Khaled Ali Al Bustani, FCA's Acting Director General. "The UAE is keen to strengthen trade cooperation with the RoK since it is one of the most important strategic trade partner placed in high positions in the indicators of the UAE non-oil foreign trade over the last years," he added.

"The bilateral trade saw a significant development in the recent years. The value of mutual trade hit AED 93.44 billion during the period from 2005 until the end of October 2011", Al Bustani said. "The RoK is one of the most important export and re-export markets for the UAE as the value of the UAE's re-exports to the RoK for that period reached AED 1.04 billion and AED 1.3 billion respectively", he noted.

"Cars, projection screens, televisions, telephones, textiles and laboratory equipment were at the forefront of the top ten commodities imported from the RoK during that period. Glass, aluminum and copper scrap, aluminum ore, gold of various forms, tiles and ceramics were at the top of the commodities exported from the UAE to the RoK. Cars, refrigerators, coolers, freezers, washing machines, arm cranes for ships, tractor and car spare parts and accessories and cotton textiles were at the forefront of the commodities re-exported from the UAE to the RoK during that period", he said.

"Both the UAE and the RoK have strong historical relationships where trade plays a significant role This requires stronger commercial cooperation ties and consolidated efforts to meet challenges facing the movement of bilateral trade. Hence, the agreement is important as a major tool to facilitate mutual trade", Khaled Al Bustani pointed out.

"The FCA has signed several customs agreements with Azerbaijan, Syria, Pakistan, Algeria and India. The agreement signed with South Korea will contribute to exchange of experiences, enhancement of economic cooperation, increase of mutual trade as well as protection of the society from illegal trade practices through the exchange of information about consignments between the two countries," said Saud Al-Akroubi, the Head of International Relations at FCA.

The Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters Agreements, Al Agroobi said, curb Customs violations which affect the countries' economic, commercial, financial, social and cultural interests and aim to activate measures against these violations through close cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan.

This Agreement, he said, includes several important items, including the fight against practices that jeopardize the security, exchange of best practices and experiences in customs matters, the protection of the economy and that of the society, the development of customs awareness and culture by exchanging experiences and information and offering joint training courses. It also includes the emphasis on the role of customs as a major economic partner and the basic rules of the exchange of information and its protection, including a legal access to information, and the fact that the information is sufficiently used for legal purposes and is safely saved.