DUBAI: Dubai Customs received a delegation from Emirates Identity Authority, as part of a program to exchange expertise and enhance cooperation between Dubai government departments. The visitors were received by Hussain Al Fardan, Head of Innovation Center, Khalfan Al Keaibi, Client Relation Manager, and Fatima AlAttar, Senior Officer, Client Service Development.
The delegation included representatives of Corporate Excellence and Strategy Management at Dubai Municipality and included Rafia Al Ghafli, Head of Excellence Programme Section, Maitha Balshalat, Head of Corporate Organization Section, plus a number of managers and employees. The visit aimed at exchanging expertise and knowledge and learning about Dubai Customs’ latest practices. The visitors learnt about a number of facilitations and services provided to clients as part of Dubai Customs smart transfer strategy, and about Dubai Customs’ winning ideas and innovations that fulfil its vision of becoming the leading administration in the world that facilitates legitimate trade.
Dubai Customs’ Innovation Center receives different ideas and innovations from the clients and employees through different channels and adopt them if they are viable. Hussain Al Fardan said the number of ideas and innovations received by Dubai Customs from 2004 and 2016 is 21,850 ideas. The implemented ideas led to save about AED 1.34 billion and helped enhance performance and advance customs procedures and processes. These ideas have also helped the UAE become more competitive and attain renowned international awards.
Dubai Customs attained 62 international, regional and local awards between 2010 and 2016. These included 14 innovation awards from GDEP and 22 awards from Ideas-America, 19 awards from Ideas UK, amongst others. The inspection robot is one of these winning ideas. It’s the first of its kind in the world and was the fruit of a brainstorming session organized by the Innovation Center to all idea owners on robots. They all worked collectively to originate such a wonderful unique robot which can be equipped with advanced tracking and inspection technology. On his part, Khalfan AlKeaibi said: “It’s our commitment at Dubai Customs to keep developing and updating our services. With this in mind the Department has launched Client Happiness Charter to reaffirm that clients’ happiness is a priority and not just an accidental result”.
