Central American countries are making progress in implementing measures based on the concept of coordinated border management, developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) to improve diligence at border crossings, which is one of the factors that most significantly affects logistics performance in the region.
For this purpose, the project to Strengthen Coordinated Border Management (GCF) was developed under the coordination of the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) and the support of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which involves the modernization of a regional mobility and logistics system, articulating and modernizing infrastructure.
To this end, equipment was installed, 18 systems of Web Cams to send images (in real time) to the transmission portal of the customs services, in the border posts located in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, SIECA reported.
The border posts where the equipment was installed are: Paso Canoas in Costa Rica and Panama, Peñas Blancas in Costa Rica, Peña Blanca in Nicaragua, Guasaule in Nicaragua and Honduras, El Amatillo in Honduras, La Hachadura in El Salvador, and Pedro de Alvarado in Guatemala (see map).
This substantial progress for the coordinated management of Central American borders responds to compliance with the fifth short-term measure of the Central American Strategy for Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness with emphasis on Coordinated Border Management and complements the installation of radio frequency systems (RFIDs).
SIECA emphasizes that the implementation of the project took 24 months, from February 2019 to February 16, 2021 and was executed in two phasesThe first, related to a definition of the installation conditions of the video systems and the updating of the technical specifications of the equipment; an on-site visit was carried out from May 15 to 23, 2019, to the border posts of the six Central American countries. In a second phase, the acquisition, installation and transmission of images for the dome-type video camera systems, distributed in the aforementioned border posts of the six Central American countries, was carried out.
Based on this technological advance, the implementation of the Coordinated Border Management model will make the transportation of cargo and people in Central America more competitive, efficient, fast, reliable and safe.
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