A national Workshop on the development of an Advance Ruling System for classification and the AEO programme was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 7 to 9 November 2018. The Workshop was an initiative of the International Trade Centre (ITC), in partnership with the WCO, aimed at supporting Vietnam Customs to enhance its capacity and capability in both areas. Forty seven Customs officials and national stakeholders involved in the Customs procedures worked intensively with their facilitators, a WCO Secretariat Nomenclature expert, an accredited expert on AEO from Japan, an accredited expert on HS from Cambodia, an expert on AEO from Korea Customs and the Executive Director of the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Council of Australia.
The main objective of this Workshop was to discuss with a targeted group in the Customs Administration and relevant stakeholders the necessary measures to develop internal expertise and capacities in the area of Advance Ruling and AEO and raise awareness of the issues and the latest WCO instruments and tools.
Opening the Workshop, Ms. Raghad Altalli, Trade Facilitator Adviser of the ITC, pointed out the need for raising compliance and the transparency level of Vietnam in relation to Customs and trade procedures and to enhance trade facilitation through the measures to be discussed. Ms. Nguyen Viet Nga, Deputy Director of Vietnam Customs, expressed her gratitude to the ITC, a multilateral agency with a joint mandate with the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, and to the WCO for their support in enabling capacity building in Vietnam. She highlighted the importance of their work to improving trade facilitation and security.
At the end of the Workshop, the participants presented proposals and solutions related to the practical aspects for effective implementation of an advance ruling and AEO programme in Vietnam Customs.
In closing, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs, Ms. Nguyen Viet Nga, emphasised the importance of identifying challenges faced, areas of further improvement and issues to be solved for implementation of Advance Ruling and AEO programmes. She also encouraged participants to share the gained knowledge to help further advancement in these areas.