At the invitation of Mr. Rey Leonardo Borja Guerrero, Commissioner of the Philippines Bureau of Customs and Chair of this year’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Directors-General of Customs Meeting, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), participated in the 10th ASEAN - WCO Consultation held online on 10 June 2021.
This Consultation, organized annually in the margins of the Meeting of the ASEAN Heads of Customs, was co-chaired by Indonesia Customs, WCO Vice-Chair for the Asia/Pacific region, with the attendance of Mr. Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General of the ASEAN Economic Community.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Mikuriya expressed his deepest gratitude to Customs administrations of the ASEAN countries for their continuous support for WCO activities and for their crucial role in the Asia/Pacific (A/P) region. He also highlighted the importance of having such a forum, which afforded opportunities to hold discussions between ASEAN and the WCO on how best to maintain global connectivity and enhance collaboration to strengthen the global supply chain, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the Secretary General’s intervention, the WCO A/P Regional Development Manager took the floor to provide some valuable insights into the current WCO strategy as well as ongoing and future developments in the region, while highlighting the measures taken to facilitate and secure global vaccine supplies. He also provided details on other major developments such as the E-Commerce Framework of Standards and new working approaches adopted by the WCO, including the expansion of the AEO concept to cross-border e-commerce.
The Head of the ROCB A/P also attended this Consultation and shared an overview of the Annual Work Plan 2021/2022 for the Asia/Pacific region. In addition, he presented initiatives in place for coordinating online workshops, facilitating communication in the region and moving forward, even under these difficult circumstances.
The participants learned about the initiatives and measures taken by the WCO, the ROCB A/P and the ASEAN countries with a view to bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience for a sustainable supply chain. They also agreed that it was important to expand and deepen cooperation between the ASEAN countries and the WCO as well as within the region, particularly during challenging times such as those now facing the world.