ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Delegations from Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Region are set to meet in Erbil on Sunday to finalize an agreement on the digitalization of customs procedures and the implementation of the Automatic System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), officials said.
The two sides are expected to “reach a final agreement with the Kurdistan Region,” Samer Qasim Dawood, head of Iraq’s General Customs Authority and leader of Baghdad’s delegation, told Rudaw on Saturday, adding that the talks would address “procedures related to the digitalization of the Kurdistan Region’s customs.”
Dawood said a final agreement would be reached during Sunday’s meeting, with the results to be submitted to the Iraqi Ministerial Council for the Economy. He noted that the initiative to digitalize customs originally came from the council.
The ASYCUDA electronic automation system was developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the early 1980s and is now used at all 22 of Iraq’s federal border crossings, including key southern ports.