Abu Dhabi Customs Wins Two Honours at Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2026

The General Administration of Abu Dhabi Customs has won two honours at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2026, presented by Asian Business Review. The organisation was named UAE Supply Chain Innovation of the Year – Government Organisation for its Digital Trade Corridor, and UAE Sustainability Innovation of the Year – Government Organisation for its Tawqiei platform.

According to the report, international trade traditionally required the repeated submission, verification, and transfer of trade information across fragmented systems. The Digital Trade Corridor connects government administrations, ports, regulatory bodies, logistics operators, shipping lines, technology vendors, and commercial traders within a unified digital environment to allow authorised trade data to move securely across jurisdictions.

At the core of the corridor is TradeChain, a blockchain-enabled platform dedicated to issuing, exchanging, validating, and reusing trade documents and transaction data. Powered by artificial intelligence, data analytics, and automated workflows, the platform operates on a 'Submit Once, Use Many' model that facilitates pre-arrival customs processing, speeds up cargo clearance, and accommodates higher trade volumes without requiring staff increases.

Additionally, Abu Dhabi Customs was recognised for Tawqiei, an internal digital system launched in 2025. Built on the agency's document management infrastructure, Tawqiei replaced physical paper circulation with automated approval paths, lifecycle records management, bulk signing capabilities, and full Arabic-language integration across human resources, finance, legal, and technical units.