The WCO, in cooperation with Sri Lanka Customs and with the sponsorship of the Customs Cooperation Fund of Korea, organized a Risk Assessment and Selectivity Workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 12 to 16 December 2016. The workshop was attended by 31 participants from Customs' Headquarters and field-level offices.

The workshop was opened by Mr. W.A. Chulananda Perera, the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs. During the opening remarks, Mr. Chulananda Perera, as well as the WCO representative, highlighted the importance of adopting a holistic approach to risk management implementation. They indicated that by applying risk management techniques Customs will do more with less. They also emphasized the relationship between risk-based selectivity and effective resource allocation, facilitation and control.

Throughout the Workshop, several topics were covered, relating to the organizational and operational aspects of risk management. Risk-based cargo and passenger selectivity, including information and intelligence, were the focus areas of the programme. Most of the sessions were followed by group tasks, practical exercises, case studies, and the showing of related short videos.

Following the sessions on information and intelligence, participants drafted a document in order to identify possible measures to enhance the existing intelligence capacity of Sri Lanka Customs.  Also, during the five day session, participants discussed how to identify and address risks, as well as, how to develop an effective profile by using the methodology explained in the WCO Customs Risk Management Compendium.  Case studies and practical exercises also contributed to their further understanding of the various topics.

During the closing ceremony, each participant was jointly awarded a certificate of attendance by the Sri Lanka Customs' Additional Directors General, Mr. S. Rajendran, and Mr. A. Senanayake, and also the WCO Workshop facilitators.