The country joined the rest of the globe on January 27, 2014 to celebrate World Customs Day.

Cameroon joined the rest of the international community yesterday January 27, one day after the official date, to commemorate the 2014 World Customs Day on the theme, "Communication: Sharing information for better cooperation." It was an opportunity for the presiding officer, Finance Minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey, to orientate the customs department towards achieving its goals in 2014, topical of which is raising FCFA 638 billion for the State coffers.

Speaking during a ceremony to round off commemorative activities at the Yaounde 101 Military Airbase, Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey said the Customs Day was an opportunity for the customs administration to evaluate the path covered and draft new strategies for efficiency especially in line with government's expectations vis-à-vis the administration. The customs administration, he said, continually needs to modernize to be at the service of the country's emergence vision.

The role of the customs administration, Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey noted, is to collect resources and protect the economic environment. "Our customs administration is working hard to modenise itself so as to be efficient. We do believe that it has been working in line with the theme and this has been demonstrated through the different innovations. We want to make sure that in the near future, the target of FCFA 638 billion for 2014 is achieved through the execution of proper action plan," he said.

"We know that modernization and performance are already on the agenda and management is dedicated to achieving these goals and we are in full support so that this administration which has demonstrated in the past that it is able to realize outstanding performances is achieving its goals this year also," the Minister assured.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Customs, Minette Libom Li Likeng, said good governance and ethics remain virtues worth upholding. Time needed to clear goods from the Douala seaport, she said, has moved from 19 to 10 days and that it needs 24 hours to remove a vehicle from the port. Strategies which have been tasted and confirmed for efficiency like the performance contract and interaction with partners, Mrs Libom Li Likeng noted, are being upheld and control will be stepped up for efficiency. "Communication breeds transparency and upholding of ethical values, virtues that characterize our administration. Communication becomes poisonous when it replaces action," she said.

The ceremony also served as an occasion to reward excellence, award new epaulettes to newly-promoted staff as well as bid farewell to those going on retirement.