Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
Abu Dhabi Customs capped 2024 with remarkable results and witnessed a major milestone with the launch of its new strategic plan for 2024-2028, envisioning a sustainable transformation.
According to Abu Dhabi Customs' 2024 Annual Report, the strategy seeks to enhance customer experience, strengthen community security, increase revenue collection and engender a culture of excellence.
Reshaping customs operations - by empowering human capabilities and digital transformation - is also given the highest priority to place Abu Dhabi Customs as a global authority in securing society through adequate trade facilitation and risk management.
Abu Dhabi Customs' performance results pointed to its clear strategic vision, ambitious, goals and continuous efforts. The entity's overall performance reached 97%, with 100% performance of the strategic indicators aligned with the Abu Dhabi Plan.
It also recorded 99% performance for unified government indicators; 97% in the strategic indicator; 94% in operational indicators; and statistical maturity level at 99%.
The reduction in the entity's contract expenses also stood at Dh62.6 million in 2024, according to the report.
Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director General of Abu Dhabi Customs, highlighted that non-oil foreign trade saw a 9% increase in volume compared to figures in 2023.
"At Abu Dhabi Customs, we continue our journey toward global leadership, achieving significant milestones that have strengthened our international standing in 2024. Through an ambitious vision, structured planning, and continuous collaboration with strategic partners, we have made remarkable progress in customs operations, reinforcing Abu Dhabi's position as a preferred global trade hub while supporting its economic growth," he said in the report.
Non-oil Foreign Trade
The report also turned the spotlight on the significant growth of non-oil foreign trade in Abu Dhabi in 2024 - with Dh140.161 billion in imports, Dh107.793 billion in exports, and Dh58.093 billion in re-exports.
Key sectors contributing to this growth included Dh60 billion in pearls, gemstones, and precious metals, Dh53 billion in machinery, Dh39.5 billion in transportation equipment, and Dh21 billion in chemical products.
The total non-oil foreign trade increased by 9%, reaching Dh306.047 billion compared with Dh281.903 billion in 2023.
Partnerships, Digitisation
The customs witnessed major strides in strengthening cooperation and partnerships, according to the report.
It has 70 partners based on approved classification, with 33 from government and semi-government sectors and 37 from the private sector.
With a partner satisfaction rate of 94%, Abu Dhabi Customs achieved a 100% completion rate for handling partner requests.
The institutional maturity level of the partnerships has reached 92%, streamlining customs processes and enhancing coordination both with public and private sectors.
In terms of digitisation leadership, Abu Dhabi Customs witnessed remarkable progress with 100% compliance to cybersecurity and 99.94% availability of technical infrastructure components.
Besides, there are more than 1,000 digital interfaces, and seven connections with registration entities.
Countering Counterfeits
The number of trademarks registered and protected by Abu Dhabi Customs stood at 198 in 2024. Additionally, it seized 46 counterfeit trademarks.
A total of 37,690 counterfeit products worth Dh170,955,900 were seized and recycled.
Abu Dhabi Customs employed a total of 1,728 staff members in 2024. The Emiratisation rates in its sectors include: 94.4% for supporting services; 100% for operations; 97.2% for technical affairs; and 98.5% for senior management. The overall Emiratisation rate stands at of 99.5%.Abu Dhabi Customs was part of 60 events, of which 16 were exhibitions in 2024, with a 93% rate of happiness among the community and a growth of 13.3% in website traffic. The number of beneficiaries of community events stood at 24,030.
In 2024, Abu Dhabi Customs won 46 awards in various domains. These included five global awards in information technology; 19 global awards in human resources; and 22 global awards in other sectors.
