The South African Revenue Service is proud to announce that one of its senior officials, Mr Erich Kieck, who is the Group Executive: Customs Strategy and Policy at SARS, has been elected to head capacity building at the World Customs Organisation (WCO).
Mr Kieck was elected as Director: Capacity Building at the WCO’s annual council meeting held in Brussels, Belgium, with an overwhelming majority of 80 percent, receiving 129 of the 176 votes available from WCO member states. According to the Chief Officer, Customs and Border Management at SARS, Gene Ravele, who elect Mr Kieck to this important position at the WCO on 26 June 2010 once again signifies the role that SARS continues to play in enhancing customs capabilities at a global level.
Mr Ravele says, “It builds on the contribution that South Africa has been making through its Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan to the global customs community such as the creation of the capacity building directorate, the launching of the biggest capacity building efforts in the WCO history and the adoption of new global customs standards. All these were achieved during Minister Gordhan’s chairmanship of the WCO Council in the period 2001 to 2006.”
Erich’s election has shown that SARS customs shares a vision of enhancing customs capacity at all levels. At home this will be achieved through our customs modernisation programme, at a bilateral level through the cooperation agreements we have with other countries such as those signed with customs administrations of Lesotho and Mauritius at the same council sessions, at a regional level through participation in Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and SADC customs project and at global level through the WCO.
“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Erich and the campaign team on this magnificent achievement and wish him all the best in his new position. I have no doubt that he will take customs capacity building to the next level and help countries around the world fulfil their mandate,” says Mr Ravele.
Erich will start his five-year term in Brussels, Belgium, on 1 January 2011 and will be replacing the current Director Mr Lars Karlsson from Sweden. The second post of Director Compliance and Facilitation was filled by a candidate from China Customs, Mr ZHU Gaozhang.
Source: South African Revenue Service (http://www.sars.gov.za/)
