Customs House Brokers Association, Mauritius

Speech of the President of the
Customs House Brokers' Association
on the occasion of the
Annual General Assembly
held on Saturday 07th March, 2008

Dear Colleagues

It is an immense pleasure to welcome you and I thank you very much to have responded and be present for our Annual General Assembly.

I am rejoiced by your presence and I am excited to report to you of all the beneficial outcome for the year 2007 which has propelled the function of Customs House Brokers on a higher level.

In 2007, we have been present on all fronts to secure the interest of Customs House Brokers.

For the first time in our history, myself as President together with our Colleagues Vishwa Veeramootoo and Asheek Elybux accompanied the Mauritius delegation to visit live the AP+ SOGET System at Le Port du Havre where we received a warm welcome and had the opportunity to visit our French colleagues.

1) Trade Facilitation Committee of the Prime Minister’s Office
2) Mauritius Trade Facilitation needs Assessment Exercise
– 22-26 Oct 2007 organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3) Workshop on Security in Trade organized by the American Embassy.
4) MRA Workshop on Integrity Development 6-8 December, 2007
5) Port Users Council

Moreover, I was invited to attend the FIATA Conference 2007 in Dubai in my capacity of President of Customs House Broker where I gave an exposé on training for Trade facilitation.

Much has been done to promote the function of Customs House Brokers. We have advertised in the press, TV and Magazine list of Sworn Customs House Brokers and invite people to visit our website.

Our website is very informative. It is all the time updated where anyone can download Customs prescribed forms free of charge and access to lot of information.

Moreover, we have been fully involved in the setting up of the Mauritius Cargo Community Services. We have been given to invest in the MCCS which is a joint Public & Private Company.

For this, we are creating an Investment Arm, the CHBA Investment Ltd where Customs House Brokers can invest and earn dividend.

This will be the main concern for 2008 and the new Managing Committee will have to set up the Program of other activities and involvement.

With Freight Academy, we have permanent training in the sector. I invite you to enroll your staff for appropriate training which in the future will be a requirement to operate in the sector.

Shortly, sixteen new Customs House Brokers will be appointed after their success in the Customs Brokers Exams. We congratulate them and wish to welcome them in our organization.

Due to circumstances, we have very few new CHB to be appointed. In fact we have now less CHB so as to make provision for Customs Agents.

We are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the MRA for better cooperation and understanding. This is a major issue. The MRA is expecting much from us to help them to combat fraud and corruption. Hence, we invite you to denounce any malpractices.

In fact, most Customs House Brokers are employed by Freight Forwarding Company with loyalty. My advice to all our colleagues who are employed by Freight Forwarding and Trading Companies is to be faithful and loyal to their employers. For this, you have only to abide by our Association’s Code of Ethics and Values.

This year my appointment as President comes to term and I am presenting myself again as President so that there is no disruption in our Agenda which is to bring to term our project of CHBA Investment Ltd and our involvement in the establishing of the MCCS. It would be inappropriate for me to leave the Association at such a stage.

We are a leading force among organizations in this sector and we have to take pride in this.

Our Organization has gone through great transformation and this is the outcome of a farsighted vision, innovative mind and a guiding spirit.

Also, I wish to pay tribute to one of our friends Jacques Désiré Antoine who passed away in Nov 2007 just after succeeding in the Customs Brokers Exams.

To end, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to all my Committee Members for their full support and guidance as well as to all of you for your trust.