Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
70
4. INTERNATIONAL BAC CASE STUDIES IN FOUR OIC MEMBER
STATES
4.1. Case Abu Dhabi / United Arab Emirates118
Highlights
 The GCC countries follow a common customs law that obliges the member countries to
use the same harmonised dataset for customs declaration. The common customs law also
facilitates exchange of intelligence and deeper collaboration on customs training and
education.
 There are some special arrangements to synchronise and coordinate inspections at the
Oman-UAE and Saudi-UAE land border crossings.
 Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are working towards regional AEO
programs and e-clearance (Single Window) systems. These initiatives are, however, at an
early stage at the moment.
4.1.1. Setting the scene for iBAC IN Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi overview
Abu Dhabi is one of the seven emirates that form the Constitutional Federation of the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), a wealthy country located on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf,
west of the Gulf of Oman. The territory of Abu Dhabi lies in the south of the six other emirates:
Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Abu Dhabi covers 87%
of the land area of the entire UAE, being by far the largest of the seven emirates. Abu Dhabi
shares comparatively long land borders with Saudi Arabia (457km) and Oman (≈250km).
Abu Dhabi is a major global hub of international trade, logistics and tourism, largely thanks to
its advanced infrastructure, central location and liberal trade policies. The Abu Dhabi
International Airport, the UAE’s second busiest airport after the Dubai International Airport,
handled 827,000 metric tonnes of cargo and over 23 million passengers in 2015. There are
major sea ports at the outskirt of the city of Abu Dhabi: Port Khalifa (mainly containers), Port
Zayed (break bulk and cruise ships), and Port Musaffah (break bulk). The Khalifa Port’s semi-
automated container terminals handle currently all the emirate’s container traffic. Abu Dhabi
has land-border connections to Oman through the city of Al Ain and to Saudi Arabia through
Ghuwaifat-Al Bat'ha border crossing. The map below presents the main border crossings and
international logistics hubs in Abu Dhabi.
118 Dubai Customs, 2002
Abu Dhabi Customs Administration, Expert interview, 2016
Interview with Mr. Marwan Gharaibeh, the strategic Advisor to Customs DG in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
The Peninsula Qatar
(accessed 24 July 2016)
Oxford Business Group, 2016
World Bank, 2016