The World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India, held a Sub-regional Workshop for Trainers in Risk Management from 4 to 8 November 2019 at the Regional Training Centre (RTC), Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN), in Bengaluru, India.  The Workshop received sponsorship from the Indian Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF/India) and was attended by 15 participants from Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

This initiative was the first of its kind in the sub-region and was designed to bring about sustainability in risk management by creating a pool of trainers within the sub-region’s Customs administrations.  The objective of this new initiative was not only to give officers working in the risk management field an opportunity to enhance their overall enforcement skills, but also to develop ongoing in-house risk management training skills that can be passed on to the staff as a whole within their administrations.

During the opening session, Mr. Ch. Venkat Reddy, Additional Director General, NACIN, and WCO representative, stressed the critical importance of risk management in Customs facilitation and control roles and, as a result, the need to promote sustainability in risk management training within Customs administrations.

In order to boost participants’ knowledge and expertise in risk and compliance management, both at the theoretical and practical levels, presentations were given and hands-on exercises conducted.  Participants presented cases displaying their risk management practices as well as explaining the challenges faced.  Each presentation was followed by lively discussions, with suggestions on the way forward to improve each specific situation.  On the last day, and to bring the Workshop to a close, representatives from each participating country were asked to design a risk management training map based on a specific topic.