China and Uruguay continue working towards the signing of a Mutual Recognition Agreement

Between February 25 and 28, the first bilateral meeting of the Working Plan aimed at a future Mutual Recognition Agreement of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) between China and Uruguay Customs, was held in Montevideo.

During these working sessions the delegations of both countries evaluated and shared information on their AEO Programs, on their regulations, authorization criteria, validation processes and benefits, among other topics.

The Chinese delegation was composed of the Director General, Department of Enterprise Management and Audit-based Control, Mr. HU Dongsheng, the Director, Division of Credit Management Department of Enterprise Management and Audit-based Control, Mr. Qi Ming, the Senior Advisor, Division of Credit Management of the AEO Office, Ms. E Tao, and the AEO Specialist, Ms. Tang Yanli.

First of all they visited the Headquarters of the Uruguay National Customs Directorate, where they were welcomed by the Director General of Uruguay Customs and Chairperson of the WCO Council, Mr. Enrique Canon, the Manager of the Foreign Trade Area, Mr. Jaime Borgiani, the Director of the AEO Program, Mr. Diego Casella, the official from the Institutional and Technical Relations Advisory Unit, Ms. Micaela Testa, the representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Constanza Morales, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Mr. Zhou Quan, and the Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Uruguay, Ms. Jia Mian.
 
Then, both parties presented their Authorized Economic Operators Programs, exchanged views and carried out a review of the status of the joint Working Plan. Likewise, Uruguay Customs made a presentation of its Control and Risk Management Unit.

China Customs Presentation on AEO

On February 26, at the Uruguay Chamber of Industries, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China gave a presentation on their AEO Program and the Action Plan for the Mutual Recognition Agreement of their AEO Programs between both countries.

The activity was attended by Mr. Pablo Ferrari, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, who emphasized that this agreement, promoted by Uruguay Customs together with the country’s main trade partner, without any doubt will provide significant benefits for all Uruguayan companies. The event was also attended by representatives of local chambers, associations and foreign trade operators, members of the Uruguay-China Chamber, authorities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Engineering and Mining, Ministry of Health, the Port National Authority, the Institute of Meat, and the Technology Laboratory of Uruguay.

Towards the signing of a Mutual Recognition Agreement

The signing of an agreement between both countries, scheduled for the end of this year, means that we will advance towards international trade facilitation, since the aim of the agreement is to grant mutual benefits to all the operators authorized by the Customs Administrations of both countries. Likewise, it reaffirms the commitment with best international practices on cross-border trade.

This Program is one of the four pillars of the Customs Modernization process and nowadays Uruguay is among the countries from the Americas that has reached the largest number of agreements. Our country has signed four MRAs: in 2016 with Brazil (highly important since it was the first one signed between countries from the Southern hemisphere), in 2017 with Korea and in 2018 with Peru and Bolivia. We are currently working on the completion of the agreements with China, the United States and Argentina.