From 8-12 March, the WCO Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme was holding another virtual workshop on Stakeholder Engagement, with TRA.

As one of TRA’s specific outcome under the A-CIP Programme is to increase mutual trust and cooperation between the private sector and Customs, the week-long training aimed at identifying common solutions to promote integrity in both sectors. Participants have worked on recommendations on how to better engage with TRA’s partners on the basis of the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) results, and reinforcing TRA’s stakeholder engagement strategies on the generic trade facilitation agenda as well as on integrity-related specific messaging and joint action planning. Those objectives fall under the Relationship with the private sector key factor of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration.

Insightful conversations allowed the participants to reflect on the importance to leverage the CIPS results in order to address the differences between the perceptions of Customs officials and those of the private sector. The group also acknowledged equal importance to consolidate their partnership approach based on transparency, accountability and open communications. Discussions were facilitated by experts from the WCO and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

During the closing remarks, TRA officials and WCO agreed to further discuss how to bring the private sector into this conversation using a virtual engagement approach.

For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org