The Principal Secretary for Trade, Cillia Mangroo, told a press conference that new customs agreement will be signed with Japan, to help smooth the process for importing cars. forming similar partnerships in the future with countries with which the island nation does a lot of trade.
Other such agreements are in preparation with India, South Africa and Japan, the latter with which Seychelles is having a few difficulties, especially with the importation of cars. “We have received a lot of complaints recently with regards to people buying cars from Japan, directly from agents or companies of auction houses, which is something we have discouraged in the past,” said Mangroo,
It is to be remembered that lats July 6 UAE an agreement was made to help address various issues, which include speeding up of the procedures needed when dealing with under-invoicing, fraudulence and counterfeit products.”
The cooperation will also aid in ensuring accurate assessments and collection of duties and charges on goods traded between the two countries.
“We also have technical assistance under this agreement, which will enable us to be assisted by the UAE as we work on the strategic reforms of customs and the UAE will also assist Seychelles with capacity building of its staff,” added Mangroo.
The agreement is the first of its kind signed between Seychelles and any other country and the Principal Secretary said that Seychelles will be looking into
An agreement to cooperate on customs matters signed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this month will greatly benefit customs operations in the island nation, a top official said on Friday.
“What we are seeing now is a lot of people are losing money because they are being tricked or scammed and they do not get the car that they have paid for and at the end not being able to get their money back,” she added.
Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has strict regulations for the importation of cars and this includes that the car must be right-hand drive and not older than five years, among others.
When these conditions are not met, the vehicles will be seized by the authority and this has been happening a lot with vehicles imported from Japan as, despite the importers paying for a car that meets these requirements, when it arrives in Seychelles, it is not the case.
