On 24-26 January 2011, at the premises of the Russian Federal Customs Service in Moscow, a dedicated Europe Region Think Tank met to deliberate on important issues related to streamlining the regional Capacity Building activities and getting the new Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) in Baku up and running.

The meeting was initiated and chaired by the Regional Vice-Chair (the Customs Administration of Luxemburg) who invited for participation mid and senior-level experts from the Europe Region members currently sitting on the WCO policy-making bodies – the Policy Commission, the Finance and Audit Committees, as well as representatives of the ROCB host country – Azerbaijan. Two colleagues of the Capacity Building Directorate of the WCO Secretariat participated in the meeting to support the discussions.

The three dynamic days of discussion and drafting resulted in the elaboration of the first ever Capacity Building Strategy for the Europe Region defining the region’s strategic and operational priorities for 2011-2014. The group also agreed on the text of a Concept paper for the ROCB and considered several options for sustainable development of the Office. It was highlighted that the ROCB in Baku was owned by the whole region, and had to be maintained by the regional Members. For the future, the participants of the meeting recommended having such meetings convened by the regional Vice Chair on an Ad-hoc basis when necessity arises.