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01 February 2019
At the invitation of Mr. Ahmed Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Customs and WCO Vice-Chair for the North of Africa, Near and Middle East (MENA) region, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the Regional Meeting of Directors General of Customs held in Cairo, Egypt on 31 January 2019. The meeting brought together representatives from 15 Members of the region, the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) and the League of Arab States.
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30 January 2019
The 77th WCO Fellowship Programme, intended for French-speakers, was launched in Brussels on Monday 28 January 2019.
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30 January 2019
On 28 January 2019, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya met with the Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Brussels Committee of Ambassadors at WCO Headquarters. The Meeting was organized at the initiative of His Excellency Dato’ Hasnudin Hamzah, Ambassador of Malaysia to Belgium, with the objective of discussing emerging priorities for Customs, as well as exploring mechanisms to further enhance cooperation between the WCO and ASEAN Member States. The Ambassadors of all ten ASEAN Members were present.
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30 January 2019
In a globalized world a secure and rapid cross-border exchange of information and intelligence is crucial for preventing and combating cross-border crimes.
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29 January 2019
The World Customs Organization (WCO) celebrated International Customs Day (ICD) on 25 January 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, and officially launched the theme of the year: “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport.”
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29 January 2019
An expert from the WCO participated in a workshop on cultural heritage protection held from 22 to 24 January 2019 in Baghdad, Iraq. The workshop brought together representatives of the Iraqi enforcement and intelligence services, as well as international experts, to discuss cultural heritage protection and strengthen the international network of dedicated professionals. Organized by the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) to Iraq with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Iraq, the workshop served as a follow-up to the high-level conference organized by the EU Counter-Terrorism Office in Brussels in May 2018.
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28 January 2019
At the invitation of the World Economic Forum (WEF), WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya participated in the Annual Meeting 2019 held from 22 to 25 January 2018 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, where he met with global leaders, explained the important role played by Customs and contributed to various sessions.
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25 January 2019
Traditionally, to mark International Customs Day (ICD) each year, the WCO Secretariat dedicates a theme that is pertinent to the challenges facing the global Customs community. The slogan chosen for 2019 is “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport.” At a time when the number of passengers and the volume of freight crossing borders is expected to increase exponentially, and technology has transformed the economic landscape in which Customs is evolving, WCO Members are encouraged to look at how they can best ensure the swift and smooth cross-border movement of goods, people and means of transport.
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18 January 2019
At the invitation of the Turkmenistan Authorities, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited Ashgabat, the country’s capital, on 16 and 17 January 2019. He met with the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of the State Customs Service for discussions on how to further develop the existing cooperation between Turkmenistan and the WCO.
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16 January 2019
At the invitation of the Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, Mr. Safar Mehdiyev, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited Baku, Azerbaijan on 14 and 15 January 2019. He met with the President of Azerbaijan, H.E. Ilham Aliyev, and later with the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Mr. Novruz Mammadov, to discuss Customs reform and Azerbaijan playing a leadership role within the WCO.
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15 January 2019
From 17 to 21 December 2018 in Suva (Fiji Islands), the World Customs Organization (WCO) held a National Workshop to raise awareness of and prepare for the Time Release Study (TRS).
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14 January 2019
From 17 to 21 December 2018, two experts from the WCO Secretariat conducted a diagnostic mission to assess the existing infrastructure of Niger’s Directorate General of Customs (Niger Customs) in respect of work undertaken with regard to the Harmonized System and tariff classification as well as to Customs valuation.
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11 January 2019
Around 20 experts from Member Customs Administrations and the Asian Development Bank gathered in Faridabad, India from 8 to 10 January 2019 for a regional workshop on transit for selected Members of the Asia-Pacific region.
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09 January 2019
Recognizing the strategic importance of the training and competency development process in the completion of its strategic objectives, and the particular importance of these objectives to the modernization of its training system, the Director General (DG) of Sudanese Customs requested technical assistance from the WCO to realize these objectives.
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![[From r. to l.] WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya, member of the Romanian EU Presidency team Raluca Mocanescu, and DG TAXUD Director General Stephen Quest](/-/media/wco/public/images/media/press-releases/january-2019/eu_romania-presidency_slider.jpg?h=134&la=en&w=180)
08 January 2019
At the invitation of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the meeting of the EU’s Working Party on Customs Union, held on 8 January 2019 in Brussels, to describe the WCO’s outlook for 2019.
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07 January 2019
Following the August 2018 Mercator Scoping mission for Swaziland, the WCO conducted a five-day diagnostic mission on Post Clearance Audit (PCA) from 3 to 7 December 2018 in Mbabane, Swaziland
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