Bolivia and Brazil signed this Tuesday (29.09.2020) the agreement on the mutual recognition of their Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programs, which will facilitate bilateral foreign trade and strengthen the logistics chain of goods between both countries.
The document was signed by the Chargé d'Affaires of Bolivia in Brazil Wilfredo Rojo and the Ambassador of Brazil in Bolivia Amb. Octavio Enrique Díaz Garcia Cortez in an act transmitted by account of Bolivian National Customs Facebook.
At the ceremony, the President of the Bolivian National Customs Jorge Zogbi Nogales pointed out that through the Agreement “Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs) will achieve greater competitiveness by earning certain benefits such as preferential treatment at the border that will reduce times and costs in both countries. In this same direction, the National Customs will continue working with other Latin American counterparts to boost foreign trade and facilitate operations between operators.".
In turn. The Undersecretary of Customs Administration of the Special Secretariat of Federal Revenue of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Fausto Vieira Coutinho stated that “The signing of this Agreement represents for Brazil the conclusion of three years of work, there was a process of compatibility, joint validation visits to AEO companies from both countries and meetings to define the benefits for companies, the exchange of information between Customs and the mechanisms for the effective implementation of the Program.”
And I add: "In this way Bolivia and Brazil strengthen their customs cooperation ties in the important integration agenda".
It should be remembered that in order to reach the Bolivia-Brazil Mutual Recognition Agreement, on December 19, 2017, representatives of the Customs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Federative Republic of Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a view to achieving a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) of their respective Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programs, an aspect that will contribute significantly to the facilitation of bilateral foreign trade and the strengthening of the logistics chain of goods between Bolivia and Brazil.
Following the signing of the Memorandum, the Customs Administrations of both countries committed to carry out activities established in a Work Plan, which allowed the harmonization of requirements of their AEO Programs, the comparison of security criteria within the framework of the guidelines established in the SAFE Regulatory Framework of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the identification of benefits for AEO companies.
The satisfactory completion of the aforementioned activities made it possible for the ARM to be signed by the highest authorities of the Customs of Bolivia and Brazil.
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