Bolivia and Chile will establish a permanent working group on customs issues to improve the exchange of information and risk analysis of cross-border trade.
With the agreement to install as soon as possible the so-called "Permanent working group on customs issues"and a series of coordinations in specific areas, concluded this Wednesday (27.09.2019) the bilateral meeting held by the technical teams of the Customs of Chile and Bolivia in Valparaíso.
The final minutes of the working meeting were signed by the National Director of Customs of Chile, Claudio Sepúlveda Valenzuela, and the Executive President of the National Customs of Bolivia, Marlene Ardaya, thus sealing a series of advances framed within the commitments assumed after the Border Committee held at the end of July this year in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia and in the Agreement on Cooperation and Exchange of Information in Customs Matters that both institutions signed in February 2004.
Marlene Ardaya and Claudio Sepunveda
Claudio Sepulveda highlighted that “We are very satisfied with the agreements reached., because they effectively point to a common diagnosis of the joint work that we must carry out with Bolivia, not only at the customs level but also in other areas, such as border security and citizen protection."
He added that "without a doubt international cooperation at operational levels is key to progress in customs matters and in this, Chile has shown great leadership at the Latin American level. That is why the coordinated work with the countries with which we share borders, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia, is permanent at all levels."
For its part, Marlene Ardaya He assured that “es one of the most important meetings, there is definitely a very clear agenda. In fact, it shows the will of both customs to fight against illegal activities and that is important for everyone and for the benefit of both countries. This working group is allowing us to definitively implement specific operations.”
Following the Bilateral Technical Meeting of the Customs of Chile and Bolivia, it was agreed that the first operational meeting of the permanent group will take place within the next 4 weeks in the border town of Colchane to continue to delve deeper into the other agreements reached in Valparaíso, such as the improvement of controls and exchanges of information regarding illicit trade and risk analysis.
Second Bolivia-Chile Bilateral Technical Meeting
Amongst the Other topics discussed There was also the electronic exchange of land cargo manifests and the availability of adequate Internet connections at the border to carry this out; the final implementation of the Single Form for the departure of vehicles for tourist purposes and the harmonization of the periods of stay; and continuing to work on the implementation of electronic maritime manifests for the port of Arica.
Likewise, information was provided on the contingency plans that the Chilean Customs will implement due to the Pope Francis' visit in January 2018; and the customs operation of the integrated border complexes shared by Chile and Bolivia was reviewed: Chungará-Tambo Quemado, Visviri-Charaña and Colchane-Pisiga, adopting various specific work agreements in each of them.
Bolivian and Chilean Customs Delegation in Valparaiso
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