Revenue agency to host regional meeting in Swakopmund
The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) will be hosting the 19th Administrative Meeting for National Contact Points (NCPs) for the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO)) for East and Southern Africa (RILO-ESA) in Swakopmund from 23 to 25 August.
The gathering will be the first face-to-face meeting since the 16th Administrative Meeting held in Mauritius in August 2019.
The 17th and 18th Administrative Meetings were held virtually due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, NamRA, Chief: Strategic Communications, Steven Yarukeekuro Ndorokaze said in a statement.
Namibia is co-hosting this year’s regional meeting with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. The annual regional meeting provides a platform for all RILO-ESA NCP member states to discuss various issues concerning cross-border illicit trade such as drugs, money laundering, and environmental crime as well as to enhance effective global information sharing, intelligence exchange, and cooperation amongst customs administrations and other enforcement agencies involved in combating transnational crimes.
According to Ndorokaze, the meeting will be attended by officials representing customs administrations from 19 RILO-ESA Member States, representatives from Southern African Development Community countries Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange (SADC TWIX) and TWIX EA, World Customs Organisation (WCO), INTERPOL Regional Bureau and National stakeholders such as Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, the Namibian Police and INTERPOL. Other participants are expected to attend virtually as this will be a hybrid event.
The three-day meeting will consider country reports related to the enforcement of cross-border crime mitigating measures and discuss ways to strengthen the collaboration among member states in the fight against illicit trade.
