The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs organises global India Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme in association with World Bank from November 28 to 29, 2024 in New Delhi. The event was attended by representatives from Russia, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Qatar, Bangladesh, Brazil, New Zealand, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Belarus.
AEO dialogue was inaugurated by Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, CBIC, along with Members of CBIC, Shri Rajiv Talwar; Shri Alok Shukla Member; Shri Vivek Ranjan; and Shri Surjit Bhujbal; in presence of Mr. Hoon Sahib Soh, Head, South Asia Macroeconomics Trade & Investment, World Bank. Mr. P. K. Das, Director, World customs organisation, New Delhi also addressed the conference.
In his keynote address on day one, Shri Agarwal emphasised the improvement made by India in the World Bank logistics performance index and centrality of AEO programme in that effort. AEOs programme embodies India's ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which must be seen as a global effort to secure global trade.
Earlier, in his inaugural address Shri Bhujabal welcomed the participants and said that the conference presented an opportunity to discuss policies and programmes as it is not only a platform for ideas, but it is a platform for action. He highlighted the progress made by India AEO programme and underscored the benefits accrued to the private sector.
In his valedictory address on the day two of the conference, Shri Sanjay Malhotra explained the two-pillar approach of the Government on tax administration — trust and technology — and underscored the importance of expansion of Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) programme to include more regional and bilateral partners.
Shri Malhotra assured India’s support in developing a robust AEO programme in countries with less capabilities and emphasised that AEO helps in re-organising and re-engineering tax system that relies on trust-based strategies.
Shri Satya Prasad Sahu, World Bank summarised the key takeaways from the conference.
ABOUT AEO PROGRAMME:
AEO is a programme under the aegis of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) SAFE Framework of Standards to secure and facilitate Global Trade. AEO is a voluntary compliance programme which enables Indian Customs to enhance and streamline cargo security through close cooperation with the principal stakeholders of the international supply chain viz. importers, exporters, logistics providers, custodians or terminal operators, custom brokers and warehouse operators. Indian AEO programme started in 2011 and was strengthened in 2016. It is implemented by Directorate of International Customs of CBIC. There has been exponential increase in the AEO certified clients. As on 31.10.2024, there are 5,947 AEO entities in India in a three-tier programme with additional tier of logistical operators.
India has signed MRA on AEO with the Customs Administrations of South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, UAE, Australia, and Russia. By this agreement, AEO status of the MRA partner’s AEO programme is recognised by each other and trade facilitation is extended reciprocally. India has also signed Joint Action Plans (JAP) to conclude an MRA with Uganda, East African Community, South Africa, Japan, Bahrain, Singapore, New Zealand, the UK, Belarus and BRICS. Joint action plan with Brazil was signed during the conference to enter into an MRA.