Egypt, Libya to cooperate on taxes, customs issues

CAIRO - 11 December 2017: "Egypt and Libya will cooperate in work fields of the Ministry of Finance such as taxes, customs, fiscal policies and state budget," Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy announced Monday.

In a meeting with the Libyan Minister of Finance Osama Hammad, Garhy discussed economic and fiscal cooperation between both countries.

"A joint committee will be formed in January 2018 for that regard," Garhy said in a statement.

Garhy and Hammad tackled the outlook of joint agreements and projects that can be reached in the field of automating the state budget.

Libya's finance minister called on Egypt to facilitate the passing of Libyan citizens' cars moving into the country.

The Ministry of Finance is working to develop the Custom Authority through automating custom services, applying a one-stop shop system, tightening monitoring on custom outlets, raising skills of employees and reviewing the legislative part.

Talks about a new custom law started to heat up in 2015 after the Customs Authority announced that a new act will entail incentives to importers, like an option allowing them to pay tax on production equipment in installments.