By Alfred Koroma
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea or the Mano River Union (MRU) have signed an agreement to improve custom relation on trade, revenue and border security among them.
The trilateral agreement was signed in the capital of Guinea, Conakry, through the three customs administration officials, namely: Chief Abu Martin Kanneh, Customs Chief for Sierra Leone, General Moussa Camara, Guinea’s Director General of Customs and Saa Saamoi, Customs Commissioner for Laberia.
The Customs Chiefs emphasized the need for mutual administrative assistance among them as the appropriate way to address revenue frauds, facilitate cross-border trades, and the engendering regional security.
“The only way we can succeed in fighting cross border crime and illicit trade is to collaborate,” Sierra Leone’s Customs Chief, Abu Martin Kanneh said, hailing the MOU as the beginning of a new era in the MRU region for customs administrations.
Kanneh vowed to work with his counterparts in tracking down customs-related crimes and protecting revenues. His counterparts from Guinea and Liberia reached similar commitments.
The Customs authorities agreed to foster collaborations in facilitating cross-border trade and improved security to attract domestic resource mobilization in the three MRU countries and consolidate solidarity in countering Customs frauds within their borders.
There was also a call the three MRU governments to rehabilitate roads and bridges linking the countries to enhance trade facilitation and boost revenue collection.
