Strengthening Regional Practical Cooperation between Port Control Units of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan under Global Container Control Programme

27-29 January 2020, Tashkent, Uzbekistan - UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (UNODC ROCA) jointly with the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a working study visit for twelve officers of the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance of Afghanistan, members of the Port Control Units (PCU) to Uzbekistan. The visit was organized within the framework of UNODC-World Customs Organization (WCO) Global Container Control Programme (CCP) and aimed at learning the best practices of Uzbekistan in customs control and risk management, as well as strengthening cross-border cooperation through the effective interactions between PCUs of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.

Addressing Afghan and Uzbek Customs officers at PCU premises "Chukursay Tekhkontora" Customs post, Mr. Batyr Geldiyev, CCP Regional Programme Coordinator, stressed "this visit will strengthen regional practical cooperation including information exchange on high-risk consignments under framework of the CCP Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and PCUs. The Memorandum of Understanding on establishing the Inter-Regional Network has been signed by the Heads of Customs Administration of Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan on 22 May 2019 in Tashkent." 

The Customs officers discussed the specifics of obtaining pre-arrival information on railroad checkpoints, became familiar with opportunities of automated database for customs operations and reviewed the challenges of national risk management systems for profiling and targeting of high-risk consignments.

The PCU members of "Chukursay Tekhkontora" presented the successful cases of illicit goods seizures basing on innovative risk profiling approaches and advanced customs control techniques. PCU officers conducted bilateral consultations on implementing regular information exchange mechanism to detect illicit goods and customs violations in the region through the effective coordination of customs control operations in real time within the framework CCP Inter-Regional Network of Customs Authorities and PCUs.

In addition to the visit of the PCU "Chukursay Tekhkontora", the delegation of Afghanistan had an opportunity to became familiar with the activities of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in particular, with the activities of the Department of Customs Examination and maintenance of the commodity nomenclature of foreign economic activity, the "History of Customs" museum, the National Cynological Center, as well as customs posts of the foreign economic activity of "Ark Bulak" and "Chukursay". 

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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