Third Annual WCO Regional Donor Meeting for the Americas and Caribbean Region
2-3 February 2012
Inter American Development Bank Headquarters, Washington DC
From L-R: Selvin Lemus (WCO Vice Chair), Manuel Marquez (IDB), Antoni Estevadeordal (IDB), Sergio Mujica (WCO), and Andrea Paz (WCO)
On 2 and 3 February 2012, the third annual World Customs Organization (WCO) Regional Donor Meeting for the Americas and the Caribbean took place at the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) headquarters in Washington DC. The meeting designed to address collaboration and information exchange included development banks, international organizations, donor administrations, academia, private sector and regional representatives. The exchange of information has resulted in an increase of awareness in both the projects and developments in the region, and it has resulted in pooling efforts through collaboration that has improved the outcomes regionally.
The meeting started with welcoming words by Antoni Estevadeordal, Manager Sector of Integration and Trade for the IDB and Sergio Mujica, Deputy Secretary General of the WCO both highlighting the importance of this third annual meeting to the efforts of donors and beneficiaries in the region. Participants reviewed the current and proposed projects, including the career path that is being developed for regional Customs officers. Yoshiro Kosaka, Director of the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building for Asia Pacific, was a special guest at this meeting. Mr. Kosaka hoped to take with him the best practices of this meeting so that he could apply them to the Asia Pacific Donor Meeting.
In addition to the regional donor meeting, the WCO Deputy Secretary General had the opportunity to discuss with the Vice President of Sectors and Knowledge of IDB, Santiago Levy, the positive impacts that the joint efforts by the IDB and WCO in the last years have had in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Mr. Mujica also had a chance to meet Yasuhiro Utsami, Executive Director for Japan at the IDB. Sergio Mujica was appreciative of the sustained support the region had enjoyed from the Japanese Special Fund at the IDB.
Mr. Mujica then visited the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet with Juan Toro, Division Chief for Revenue Administration Reform. Juan Toro and Sergio Mujica, along with Patricio Castro and Graeme Ludlow, both from the IMF, were present and agreed to further develop cooperation with the WCO and, where possible, continue to work jointly on projects in the region.
Whilst in Washington DC, the Deputy Secretary General of the WCO also met acting US CBP Commissioner, David Aguilar, and visited the US National Targeting Center (NTC).
The fourth annual meeting of the WCO Regional Donor Meeting for the Americas and the Caribbean will take place, tentatively, in February 2013 in Washington DC.