ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is scheduled to visit Baghdad to sign an agreement regarding ASYCUDA’s implementation for regulating commercial carriers across border lines, in anticipation of its approval by the Iraqi Ministerial Council for Economy.
“The delegation is scheduled to visit Baghdad tomorrow,” Legal Advisor to the KRG Interior Ministry Sami Jalal told Rudaw on Tuesday, adding that the visit is “specifically to discuss the ASYCUDA system.”
The application system for the Kurdistan Region’s crossings has raised concerns among local authorities, who fear that handing the reins of its commercial imports to Baghdad could undermine the KRG’s control over its own border crossings.
The ASYCUDA electronic automation system is designed to standardize and modernize customs procedures through digital integration. It was developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the early 1980s and is implemented throughout all 22 of Iraq’s federal border crossings - excluding those of the Kurdistan Region.
Under the system, merchants are required to secure federal government approval in advance and pay customs duties before importing goods. They are also granted access to US dollars at the official Central Bank exchange rate to facilitate purchases from abroad, which is cheaper than black market rates.
In April, delegations from Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Region met in Erbil in an effort to progress the agreement on the digitalization of customs procedures and the implementation of the ASYCUDA. The Iraqi government approved the measure in the beginning of June, allowing all goods to be imported independent of Baghdad’s approval through the Kurdistan Region’s Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Turkey.
The agreement followed months of disputes between Baghdad and Erbil over the management of the KRG’s crossings with repeated proposals from the KRG to implement and operate its own.
