DC Consultative Council discusses client initiatives to develop customs services

The Dubai Customs Consultative Council has held its third meeting for 2015, chaired by H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, Chairman of the Board. H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World, Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, along with DC senior officials, DC members of the council, and chairmen and representatives of business groups, members of the council, attended the meeting.

Boosting cooperation and partnership between DC and business and trade groups in Dubai was one of the items on the meeting’s agenda. The meeting also discussed the initiatives suggested by clients to contribute to the development of services and customs facilitation efforts, as well as the participation of business groups, corporates, and clients in the Customs Week, due to be held in January next year.

H.E. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: “We are adopting an ongoing development approach, not only to make our clients satisfied, but also to make them happy.” He also called on the Advisory Council to play a positive role in proposing plans, ideas, and initiatives aimed at improving and developing the customs services to take part in supporting the achievements of DC, both locally and globally, noting that DC had launched several initiatives to ensure clients participation in its efforts to develop its services and customs facilitations, including the recently adopted Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program which is “a quantum leap in our endeavors to support the economy and enforce the security of trade supply chains”.

For his part, H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said: "The Advisory Council is a culmination of partnership and cooperation between the government and the business sector, which serves the public interest”. He stressed that DC had fostered the initiatives suggested by DC’s clients and had, therefore, launched a number of communication platforms to maintain contact with its registered clients whose number nears 184,000 businesses and individual customers up to the end of the Q4 of 2015.

On behalf of the members of the DC Consultative Council, Mr. Ashok Sawlani, former chairman of Texmas (Textile Merchants Association), and member of its Management Committee, gave a presentation on the textiles industry. He pointed out that this sector is one of the oldest and largest commercial sectors in Dubai, stating that Dubai Textile City alone is home to more than 750 wholesale textile traders. He said that according to Dubai Customs statistics Dubai’s foreign trade in textiles and fabrics reached AED 16.4 billion in 2014, including imports worth AED 10 billion, which reflects the significance of this vital business sector to Dubai.

 At the end of the meeting, members of the Consultative Council praised DC’s interaction, the attention it directed to their suggestions and the implementation of their ideas. On the other hand, H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih highly valued such suggestions and ideas as being indispensable inputs to develop and improve Customs work systems and practices and bring in more efficiency.