As part of activities to mark the closing of the 19th annual conference of Director of Customs for the West and Central Africa region that ended recently at the Yaounde Conference Centre, Cameroon Director of Customs, Minette Libom Li Likeng, was elected as the next Vice-chair of World Custom Organization, WCO, for the West and Central Africa Region, WCA to represent the 23 member states of the region.

Minette Libom will be replacing out-going Vice-chair Dikko Inde Abulallahi, Controller General of Nigeria Customs.

Speaking to the press, the Secretary General for the World Custom Organization, Kunio Mikuriya said Cameroon’s level of performance was voted at the meeting which has served as an inspiration for other Directors of customs in the region to emulate which he says will be a progress because of the reforms of modernization of the custom sector.

On the final day of the Conference, the Heads of Delegation were received by the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Philémon Yang. Following a report by the Secretary General on the work accomplished at the Conference, the Prime Minister said that Customs performed an indispensable function for States, particularly in the areas of revenue collection, trade facilitation and protection of society.

At the Conference closing ceremony, Cameroon Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey, expressed his appreciation for the collaborative work accomplished by the DGs and reaffirmed his support for Customs modernization.

The 23 member states of the WCO-WCA include : Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Sao Tome, and Principe, Sierra Leone, Senegal ,Togo, Chad.