FIJI’S Customs service will be strengthened with increased investment in new scanning technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) chief executive officer Udit Singh (pictured) said the new technologies would improve efficiency at the borders.
“One of the biggest issues for us is the volume of trade and matching resources to volume of trade so we’re starting to use new techniques in terms of trying to use AI to look through valuation methodologies and quickly get to the right information, whether it’s the legislation or whether it’s the Customs Act,” Mr Singh told this newspaper.
“And we’re also looking to do quite a bit of work in terms of scanning at the airport and also remote provinces as well.
“So we’ll roll that out in a short while.”
With Fiji increasingly being used as a transit point for illegal goods and contrabands, FRCS has reinforced its partnership with international partners.
“We work with our international partners in terms of targeting and sharing information and having information arrive to us on time and on a seamless basis,” Mr Singh said.
“So that’s one of the things we’re trying to do is we’re trying to connect all the dots, connect information from airline partners and a whole lot of other agencies so we can actually have a holistic view of who’s arriving and how do we act on that information.”
FRCS celebrated World Customs Day 2025 on Monday with the theme: Customs: Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security and Prosperity.
NOTE: This article was first published in the print edition of the Fiji Times dated FEBRUARY 1, 2025.
