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Kenya urges East Africa to harmonize customs system to boost tax revenues

  NAIROBI, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday urged the East African Community (EAC) members to harmonize their customs systems in order to boost tax revenues.

  John Njiraini, commissioner general of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), told at a regional tax forum in Nairobi the uniform customs systems will ease sharing and exchange of information, harmonize business processes and help establish a regional clearing agents framework.

  "We should have information systems compatibility to give us visibility across the systems platforms so as to monitor and track the goods declaration and clearance processes across our borders," Njiraini said during the East African Revenue Authorities Commissioners General (EARACGs) and the Regional Joint Coordination Committee (RJCC) meeting.

  The meeting brought together commissioners general of revenue authorities of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

  Njiraini said that the use of the regional electronic cargo tracking system is a step forward and should be broadened through other information systems integration.

  He noted that the EAC bloc has 10 internal land border posts which are being systematically converted into one-stop border outlets in order to facilitate trade by reducing the complexity, length and cost of cross border interactions.

  Brenda Mundia, deputy director of capacity building at the World Customs Organization, said that the association encourages the establishment of one-stop border posts to reduce cross border obstacles which will contribute both to the socio-economic development and integration of border regions.

  "The World Customs Organization is inspired by speedy and capacity building components, and has dedicated 2019 as the year of smooth border operations," the official said.