The Commissioner–General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, has advised customs and tax authorities in Africa to build their capacities and skills as they prepare for the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCTA).
He was speaking at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra during the opening ceremony of the 7th African Tax Research Network (ATRN) Congress.
The theme of the Congress is “Tax and Revenue Implications of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.”
Some of the undertakings he explained would require that the members look at their capacities and skills as revenue authorities.
In his welcome address, he opined that the implementation of the AFCTA will play a critical role in how ”we operate and tax authorities and customs authorities”.
He encouraged participants to participate in the debate to influence policy and the way we collect our revenue.
He advised Network members to consider how they could best collaborate with their respective Ministries of Finance and Trade to find ways to mitigate the revenue losses expected as we reduce import duties.
He stated that AFCTA implementation will necessitate technical skills, advanced processes, and the use of technology in collaboration with competent authorities such as the Ministries of Finance and Trade.
He urged participants to execute custom procedures to facilitate the movement of goods and trade.
”These entail activities such as tightening our borders, ensuring effective controls, ensuring we mobilize the necessary revenues both imports and exports and enforcement of restrictions including baring any international trade in illegal goods through the detection of smuggling, identification of counterfeit goods and more.”
He stated that much progress has been made in developing capabilities as well as institutional reforms, citing the South African Development Community as an example of a trade facilitation program that has now moved to an electronic certificate of origin from the previous manual approach that attests to the origin of goods.
According to Mr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, this and other equally good initiatives are initiatives that the Network could build on in the continent and embark on a single window that will help us ensure the smooth transit of goods between countries.
He also stated that cooperation among tax authorities would be critical in preventing tax evasion and other tax frauds.
He challenged the Network to learn lessons in dealing with fraud from other platforms, such as the European Union.
He stated that the EU loses 60 billion euros per year due to fraud and that this is something that the African continent must learn to address.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
