16 August 2007

Canada and the Netherlands sign a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement

The following is excerpted from the 15 August 2007 posting on”news.gc.ca”.

The Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Stockwell Day, today announced that the President of the Canada Border Services Agency, Alain Jolicoeur, and His Excellency Karel P.M. de Beer, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Canada, signed a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement in Ottawa.

“The Government of Canada is committed to a safe and efficient border. We are working closely with our international partners to facilitate the smooth flow of legitimate trade and travel,” said Minister Day. “The customs information and intelligence shared under this Agreement will allow our law-enforcement agencies to tackle border crime, and counter customs fraud and offences.”

Ambassador de Beer added, “I am pleased to see yet another step towards closer cooperation between our countries. Both Canada and The Netherlands are global trading nations and smooth customs cooperation in this day and age is indispensable.”

The Agreement emphasizes the importance of working with international partners to exchange certain customs information and intelligence to prevent, investigate and combat customs offences and allow for cooperation on critical global issues such as security.

This is the seventh such agreement that Canada has signed since 1984.