On 9 March 2010 a ceremony for the opening of the new MATRA project on technical co-operation between the Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration and the Macedonian Customs Administration, supported by the Netherlands with €300,000 took place in Skopje. This event will also mark the closure of the five-year bilateral technical co-operation project between these two institutions in the period 2005-2009, which was funded by the Netherlands in the amount of €420,000.

The ceremony took place at the premises of the Customs Administration of Macedonia (amphitheatre) starting at 11.00 am. The programme of the ceremony is enclosed to this advisory. 

The co-operation between the Dutch and the Macedonian Customs Administration began in 2003. It focussed on customs procedures, customs laboratory and overall functioning of the customs administration. In view of the positive results the co-operation activities were gradually intensified in the first two years up to the point where both parties deemed it necessary to establish a full fledged project with a duration of five years. Its goals was to support the development of the Customs Administration of Macedonia as an institution that would efficiently serve the Government and the citizens of Macedonia by ensuring timely and efficient collection of duties and prevention of customs related smuggling and organised crime.

In the course of this five-year period (2005-2010) the co-operation between the two Customs Administration has contributed to improved customs procedures, facilitated trade, enhanced the business climate and improved revenue collection. The co-operation has been especially important with respect to improving customs procedures related to inward processing and setting up the structures for adequate protection of intellectual property rights. Together with an awareness campaign on IPR protection this has contributed to seizures exceeding half a million goods. Finally, the activities for setting up the Customs open telephone line 197 and the awareness campaign funded by the Netherlands has contributed to reducing corruption,   smuggling and organised crime.

Given the successes accomplished with the aforementioned programme both the Customs Administrations of the Netherlands and Macedonia have decided to continue their co-operation for another 2.5 years (2010 – 2013) with specific focus on improving the implementation of Customs procedures with economic impact, the communication and management skills of Customs officials, combating counterfeit products and improved functioning of the Customs Laboratory.

At the ceremony, colleagues from the Dutch and Macedonian Customs Administration gave a presentation about the specific results accomplished in the course of the five-year co-operation and about the challenges in the forthcoming period of co-operation.

Download the brochure that was issued on this occasion:
 ENG
 MKD
 ALB