Stakeholder forum achieves
positive results
Alan Peat
INCREASING AMITY between the public and private sectors on matters relating to the freight industry is borne out in a recent initiative between customs and excise and forwarders.
"One of the objectives
that we have managed to achieve over the past year has been to establish a
better and more meaningful relationship," SA Association of Freight Forwarders executive director, Edward Little told FTW.
Evidence of the new relationship, according to Little, is the "Refund Reference Guide" which has just been released by customs.
"This valuable guideline has been distributed both within customs and the industry," he said.
"The big advantage of this is that we can now
all sing from the same hymn book."
And Little believes that the improved relationship has been due, in no small measure, to the assistance received from customs g.m. Vuso Shabalala who realises the benefits of working together.
A measure of this, Little added, has been the establishment of the Stakeholder Forum - attended by representatives from SAAFF, the Road Freight Association (RFA), National Port Authority (NPA), SA Port Operations (Sapo), the Association of Chambers of Commerce (Acoc), and the National Federated Chambers of Commerce (Nafcoc).
The first meeting of this forum was January 31 - which Little rated as a success in the eyes of the private sector participants.
"All the matters of moment were discussed," he told FTW, "and in a balanced fashion.
"First to ensure that customs retained the degree of control that they thought was necessary.
"But, at the same time, done in a manner that would - as far as possible - not hinder trade facilitation."
