CUTS awarded the WCO Certificate of Merit

New Delhi, January 27, 2015
On the occasion of the International Customs Day, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) awarded CUTS International with a ‘Certificate of Merit’ for rendering exceptional service to the international customs community. This year the theme of the International Customs Day was ‘Coordinated Border Management – An inclusive approach for connecting stakeholders’.

The Department of Revenue of the Government of India selected CUTS for this award in recognition of its contribution to the promotion of trust based partnership with the Central Board of Excise and Customs and enhancing India’s foreign trade.

Thanking the World Customs Organisation and the Central Board of Excise and Customs for this recognition, Pradeep Singh Mehta, Secretary General of CUTS International said: “This award will invigorate us to promote India’s foreign trade as per our national interests.” “It will motivate us to strive forward our future work on trade policy, trade performance and trade facilitation,” he added.

Receiving the award from Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance of the Government of India, in the presence of Shri Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister of India, Bipul Chatterjee, Deputy Executive Director of CUTS International said: “Our work on trade facilitation is not just about analysing customs and other procedures for reducing the costs of doing trade but it takes into account the views and concerns of stakeholders at the grassroots so as to see how procedural simplifications are facilitating local economic developments and improving livelihoods.”

He thanked his colleagues, supporters and well-wishers of the organisation for their diligent work and continued support over more than three decades, which has helped the organisation in promoting and placing consumer welfare at the centre of economic policy discourse.

CUTS International is a leading think- and action-tank working at the national, regional and international levels on trade, regulations and governance. Over the last decade, it has carried out a series of studies looking at how to reduce the costs of doing trade in South Asia and is advocating for a multi-modal transport facilitation agreement and agreements on customs cooperation, mutual recognition of standards, etc. for the betterment of physical and institutional connectivity within the region.
For more information, please contact:
Bipul Chatterjee, +91(0)9829285921, bc@cuts.org
Archana Jatkar, +91(0)9928207628, aj@cuts.org
Surendar Singh, +91(0)70239-88286, sus@cuts.org