A World Customs Organization (WCO) weeklong integrity workshop recently held at the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) identified the need for integrity development.
The workshop was Liberia’s first activity as a partner administration of the WCO’s Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Program for Customs took place in Monrovia from May 20th to 24th 2019.
The workshop was attended by senior representatives from 11 different competency areas within the LRA, all with responsibilities related to the Revised Arusha Declaration, governance and integrity in Customs.
An expert from the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade provided the workshop participants with practical applications of integrity initiatives.
The working group drafted an outline of the priorities and key areas that will serve as the foundation of LRA’s integrity strategy and action plan, which will be supported by the WCO A-CIP Program through the year 2023.
The working group identified three key elements or areas on which to focus efforts: human resource management (building on the work conducted under the former WCO WACAM project), morale and organizational culture (specifically, knowledge and change management), and regulatory framework (focusing on duty free policies and procedures).
LRA Commissioner General Thomas Doe Nah expressed his full support for the workshop, its output, along with the identification of teams within LRA that will take forward specific action points. This was also fully endorsed at the end of the mission by the Commissioner of Customs, Saa Saamoi.
In an effort to increase donor coordination, the week’s activities were conducted in parallel with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund who were in Monrovia to assess customs modernization matters, including integrity.
The WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Program was launched in January 2019 and is financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
It aims to provide support to beneficiary countries in the implementation of new measures to fight corruption and promote integrity in accordance with the ten areas of the Revised Arusha Declaration.
The Revised Arusha Declaration is, among others, the focal tool and central feature of a global and effective approach to preventing corruption and increasing the level of integrity for WCO Members.
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