This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS MAPUTO 000791
SIPDIS
USTR PASS TO MATT RHODE
AF/S - HTREGER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD MZ CTM
SUBJECT: WCO FRAMEWORK OF STANDARDS - MOZAMBIQUE VIEWS
REF: STATE 94927
1. On June 23 Emboff spoke with Danilo Nala, Director for
Internal Control at the Mozambique Customs Office (this is
generally regarded as one of the top three positions at
Customs.) Nala said that Mozambique has sent a three-member
delegation to the Brussels conference, headed by the Director
General of Customs, Antonio Barros. Mozambique did not
participate in the December 2004 WCO conference in Jordan,
and Nala said that his agency had not had time to study at
length the details of the WCO Framework. He said, however,
that he anticipated that the Mozambican delegation would have
no substantive problems with the framework text and that
Mozambique was already working to come into compliance with
the broad outlines of the agreement.
2. Nala added that next week, in Mozambique's efforts to
upgrade customs standards in compliance with the WCO
Framework, his agency would put up for bid to private
companies the right to purchase scanners for Mozambique's
major ports, airports, and land border crossings. The
purchasing company would also gain the right to collect user
fees for those scanners over a multi-year period. Customs
has received inquiries from 11 companies - two of them
Mozambican, none of them American - that may bid on this
concession. Nala said that Customs will "privatize" scanners
because the GRM does not have funds available to make the
purchases, and because donors have shown limited interest in
the multi-million dollar price tag.
Dudley