On 11 May 2015, Saudi Customs, Ministry of Finance, represented by its Deputy Director General Dr. Hamad S. AlQasoumi, and the WCO, represented by its Secretary General Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a WCO Regional Dog Training Centre in Riyadh.

This is the first WCO-certified centre for the North of Africa, Near and Middle East region, focusing on multidisciplinary dog and handler teams.

The use of detector dogs forms another important resource when managing growing flows of goods, passengers and means of transport, and dog teams are among the operational methods of combating Customs fraud worldwide.

The Training Centre will offer the region’s countries a place to meet in order to exchange practices and experiences and identify shared challenges, especially in terms of management, logistics and infrastructure, and operating methods. It will also enable these countries to take advantage of access to training.

The WCO Secretariat would like to congratulate Saudi Arabia on this positive initiative and wishes the Regional Dog Training Centre in Riyadh every success.

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Memorandum of Understanding signature by Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, and Dr. Hamad S. AlQasoumi, Deputy Director General, Saudi Arabia Customs