DUBAI, 28th September, 2015 (WAM) -- The UAE Federal Customs Authority has announced that it will be presenting its vision on advancing global trade to leaders of Customs Authorities and prominent heads of industry attending the Global Customs and Trade Facilitation Summit.

The event will focus on innovations and solutions to reduce trade barriers and boost international competitiveness, and forms part of Global Trade Development Week, GTDW, being held in Dubai from 27th to 29th October. Organised under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Economy, GTDW is a major trade forum and exhibition, and will be an unprecedented gathering of 1000 trade leaders from over 100 nations.

The Federal Customs Authority, FCA, is a strategic partner of GTDW and Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Acting Director-General of FCA, will deliver the opening keynote speech at the Customs Summit. Al Bustani says, "GTDW presents the perfect platform to present our views how customs work is a key catalyst for promoting global trade environment. GTDW?s high-caliber programme, focusing on global economic trends and risks, ties in with our core objective to promote the advancement of global trade and additionally helps our efforts to boost collaboration with customs authorities around the globe."The Customs summit will bring together a host of prominent leaders of international organizations, including WTO, Interpol, UN and World Bank. The list of speakers comprises representatives? form the world?s largest corporations, such as GM, Huawei, Hitachi and Nestle, and will be attended by dignitary delegations from industrial and emerging markets and economies.

Al Bustani added, "We are delighted that UAE is the host of this important event and reflects the UAE?s growing position as a premier regional and international hub for import and re-export." Explaining the UAE?s advanced customs facilities, he added, "The UAE has succeeded in providing a developed model in facilitating trade by simplifying and standardising the customs procedures in the first entry ports, and the implementing the latest regulations and technologies in this field, which contributed to reducing the clearance time for commercial goods and facilitated the movement of travellers".

The Global Customs and Trade Facilitation Summit will bring together leaders to debate the major trends shaping the world's economy and shed light on the perspective of private and public sectors towards the liberation of global trade, and its role in eliminating trading barriers, increasing trade and investment transparency.

Al Bustani pointed out that "the FCA has made trade facilitation a strategic objective that it sought to achieve through dozens of initiatives related to customs clearance time, statistics, risk management and unified customs procedures guide, and has maintained at the same time the community security and protected the consumer from unsound commercial practices."GTDW brings together high-level delegates from the areas of trade, development, economic zones, trade finance, industrial development, real estate, global customs and trade facilitation, with representatives from across Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. The Customs summit is one the six summits held under the umbrella of GTDW.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2015.