ALGIERS – Monday, 20 November 2023 (APS) – The 6th Algerian-Mauritanian Joint Customs Cooperation Committee held Monday, in Algiers, its 6th session under the chairmanship of the Director General of the Customs Abdelhafid Bakhouche and his Mauritanian counterpart Hamdouh Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

The works of this meeting were held at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Customs (DGD), in the presence of the Mauritanian delegation, which started on Sunday a working visit to Algiers, central officials of DGD, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, as well as Mauritania’s ambassador to Algeria.

Bakhouche stressed “the necessity of strengthening customs cooperation between the two countries, notably after the opening of the Algerian Union Bank (AUB) and the permanent exhibition of the Algerian products in Nouakchott, which will strengthen the commercial relations and bilateral trading, requiring the facilitation of the cross-border exchange process.”

This bilateral cooperation will be translated by the exchange of experiences and knowledge and the implementation of all the mechanisms likely to facilitate and secure the movement of goods and passengers through the borders of the two countries. It aims to face all the phenomena of smuggling, particularly illegal drugs and psychotropic substances, while overcoming all possible obstacles that could hinder the efficient implementation of these mechanisms on the ground, added the director general.

Bakhouche also said that this meeting comes within the framework of a series of technical meetings bringing together the two sides and which aim to study and analyze all the issues adopted during the previous meetings.

For his part, the Director general of the Mauritanian Customs welcomed the efforts of the Algerian Customs in the fight against cross-border crime, as well as in the field of training, pointing out “the valuable skills gained by the agents of the Mauritanian Customs of different ranks who benefitted from training sessions in the Algerian schools.”