A working group of representatives of the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme Partner Administrations from the Americas and Caribbean Region came together on 20-22 September 2022 at the WCO Secretariat in Brussels. The group aimed to review and, where necessary, develop new communities of practice, or knowledge hubs, on various topics that would assist in mainstreaming integrity in day-to-day Customs operations and administration in the region.

This exercise took forward an idea that emerged from the WCO A-CIP Coordinators’ meeting in February this year, where participants were keen to learn from each other and others in the region and beyond and use this collective knowledge to combat corruption in Customs.  Representatives from Customs of Antigua & Barbuda, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica and Mexico heard from the WCO regional Vice-Chair and ROCB, as well as speakers from the IMF, UNODC, IADB, OAS, and the regional PSCG who kindly joined the meetings to offer some perspectives on their initiatives on integrity in the region.

Representatives from different workstreams across the WCO, including trade facilitation, enforcement security and communications, shared their work, enabling the group to discuss the many links with integrity as a cross-cutting issue.  The WCO Deputy Secretary General Ricardo Treviño emphasized in his opening remarks that sharing knowledge and experience is critical to combat corruption. This sentiment was echoed by the representatives of Canada, both as a Programme donor and a major contributor of expertise that has been enhancing the application of inclusive and gender-responsive regional and global frameworks to support Customs administrations in the fight against corruption.

The group consensus was that strong communities of practice exist within the WCO and in the region, which will be important sources of knowledge for Members looking to build integrity.  Nevertheless, the group also concurred that there were opportunities for more robust knowledge sharing in areas such as transparency and communications for integrity and corruption risks in customs procedures and automation.  The WCO A-CIP Programme will mobilize resources to help build more inclusive communities of practice for knowledge sharing on these topics.

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