Promoting Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and Port Control Units

From 28-29 March 2019, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for Central Asia organized the Expert Level Meeting on the Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and Port Control Units in Almaty, Kazakhstan under UNODC and the World Customs Organization (WCO) Global Container Control Programme (CCP).

The meeting brought together expert-level officials from the Customs Administrations and other competent authorities of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Georgia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the Republic of Uzbekistan to further strengthen inter-regional practical cooperation among CCP participating states and discuss priorities and needs in container control field

In his opening speech, Mr. Norbert Steilen, WCO Senior Programme Coordinator, expressed his confidence that "the meeting will contribute to the strengthened information-exchange among countries in the region and with a solid Memorandum of Understanding, the participating countries will get better results."

Having reviewed the concept document on establishment of the Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and the Port Control Units, the respective agencies expressed their support towards the initiative as it provides great opportunity for effective data exchange through secure communication system.

Mr. Batyr Geldiyev, UNODC Regional Programme Coordinator, encouraged CCP participating countries to use the meeting fora to discuss important initative on establishing Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and the Port Control Units and finalize its draft Concept note and the Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening practical cooperation among Customs Authorities in the region in the field of identifying and suppressing high-risk consignments.

In line with the meeting's objectives the experts from the border control agencies have discussed and approved the Concept Note and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and the Port Control Units at the expert level.

The CCP Regional Segment for Central Asia is funded by the Government of Japan and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), and the Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) Programme.

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