Former president Thabo Mbeki, as head of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, visited the World Customs Organisation (WCO) headquarters to obtain input for its report and recommendations for African countries in order to harness Africa’s hidden resources for development.

The discussion covered, more broadly, the contribution of Customs to economic and social development in Africa, including regional economic integration.

Mbeki and the High Level Panel members acknowledged the crucial part that Customs plays in improving the business climate by ensuring connectivity at borders, evidenced by the recent WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation, as well as the role of Customs in ensuring transparency and security of the supply chain. They also appreciated the WCO approach of ownership-based capacity building which needed to be backed up by high-level political commitment.

Kunio Mikuriya, the secretary general at the WCO told Mbeki there is a need for countries to prioritize their policy regarding illicit financial flows and to provide adequate resources and a legal framework for Customs to establish controls in respect of free trade zones, thus enabling the Customs community to combat illicit trade and financial flows”.