Armenia will became a model country of customs reforms

“We want to turn Armenia into a model country of customs reforms,” said at press-conference WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya who is paying his first two-day working visit to Armenia.

According to Mr. Mikuriya, both World Customs Organization (WCO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have praised Armenian strategic reforming programs in customs. In IFC 2009 “Doing Business” report Armenia has improved its standing in the world customs rankings and rose by 34 positions. Mr. Mikuriya said Armenia moves towards international customs standards with its emphasis of active use of informational technology.

“I came here to Armenia to review reforming and to see how we can contribute to its development,” said WCO Secretary General.

Chairman of the State Revenue Committee, Gagik Khachatryan, in his part, said that the strategic reforming programs were carried out within a joint “Columbus” project aimed at assessment of the capacity of customs-houses in different countries over the world.

According to him, within this two-year program there were implemented provisions which don’t require financial injections.