Duration: 1 hour
On Tuesday, November 19, EuroCham leadership and Transport and Logistics Committee members met with senior government officials at the General Department of Customs and Excise in Phnom Penh to discuss challenges and solutions for Cambodia’s logistics and customs processes.
While infrastructure was also on the table, dialogue centred on the procedures and processes that remain obstacles for large and small operators alike.
EuroCham Chairman Tassilo Brinzer relayed concerns voiced by members of the chamber that included an ongoing reliance on paper documents during customs procedures, delays caused by existing clearance protocols, and bottlenecks resulting from the lack of return-to-origin procedures.
Chairman of the Transport and Logistics Committee Mr. Bunthan Suy brought his experience as Head of Operations for DHL Express Cambodia to the meeting and shed light on the details of how these processes impact logistics providers.
Each of these issues was presented to the Deputy Director General of the General Department of Customs and Excise Mr. SE Sokhorn and his staff who were receptive to the challenges that they pose to commerce.
Plans to create a Memorandum of Understanding between the GDCE and express shippers and establish working groups to optimise the GDCE’s digitisation process further were laid out.
As the meeting came to a close, all parties were optimistic that the ongoing collaboration between EuroCham, private enterprises, and the Royal Government of Cambodia would lead to positive change within this vital sector of the national economy.