CTF Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation, Steve Brady, visited the region in October.  His trip included three countries: Bulgaria, Kosovo and Macedonia. The visit was very successful and included meetings with Government and business representatives in all the countries. A highlight the visit was a Workshop on Revenue Risk Management which took place in Skopje, Macedonia.

Crown Agents organised and hosted the workshop which covered revenue enhancement, risk management and measures to tackle fiscal crime.  The seminar brought together all relevant stakeholders in the revenue collection domain in Macedonia - heads of Tax and Customs Units within the MoF, Border Police - Ministry of Interior, Financial Police, Anti-money Laundering Unit and Customs Administration representatives.

David Smith launching the event

The introductory presentation was made by David Smith, Principal Advisor and the Manager of our Revenue Programme in Bulgaria. The presentation focused on the process of improving compliance, reducing fraud and the application of effective risk management to target the non-compliant traders.

The presentation also addressed the links between revenue fraud, fiscal crime and organized crime. This motivated the participants to share their opinion and experience and helped to identify the main areas of concern. The lively and constructive discussions which followed were extremely positive. The joint conclusion was that the topics raised directly addressed the current challenges they all face and are in line with the needs for more effective and efficient revenue enhancement.

Participants discussing the challenges they face in their current work

The conclusions have been distributed to all the participants, and individual meetings to elaborate concrete steps and mechanisms needed for further actions are now taking place. These will be presented at a follow-up workshop gathering all the relevant stakeholders in order to agree concrete proposals for the Government of Macedonia and the Ministry of Finance.