At the invitation of the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary, Mr. Taeil Kang, Director of the Capacity Building Directorate of the WCO, took part in the high-level handover ceremony of the WCO Virtual Reality Training Equipment on 6th July 2023, in the Lt. Gen. Arnold Mihály Regional Training Centre of the WCO in Budapest.
The very first accredited WCO RTC was established in Hungary on 7 June 2001, when Lt. Gen. Mihály Arnold, former Commissioner for the Customs and Finance Guard, signed a Cooperation Agreement with Mr. Michel Danet, the then Secretary General of the WCO. This was – and still is – a significant commitment towards the WCO. Since then, in the last two decades, the RTC served as a venue for numerous events, thus supporting capacity building and training activities in the WCO Europe Region and facilitating cooperation between the Member States.
The WCO, with the support of the Korea Customs Cooperation Fund, has developed a Virtual Reality Training Programme in English and French. The aim of the programme is to support the work of customs officers using virtual reality technology. Currently, the tool provides assistance in learning the basic procedures for physical checks on container cargoes at seaports and in carrying out physical checks on shipments related to cross-border e-commerce activities. With this innovative virtual reality tool, the RTC will be able to offer quality training, making use of experiential learning technologies.
The handover ceremony was opened by Mr. Ferenc Vágujhelyi, State Secretary, Commissioner of the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary, alongside Mr. Taeil Kang, Director of the Capacity Building Directorate of the WCO. They both stressed the importance of capacity building and institutional development in which digitalisation and state-of-the-art technologies play a crucial role in enhancing the efficacy of customs training. Following the opening speeches and the official handover, a short concert was given by the Chamber Orchestra of the Finance Guard. Needless to say the virtual reality training tool won the undivided attention of everyone present, as at the end of the event, the attendees waited in packed lines to try it out for themselves.
In the days leading to the high-level handover ceremony, the VRTE was installed between 4th - 5th July 2023 by the third-party manufacturer. In parallel with the installation, several rounds of "train-the-trainer" sessions were conducted for the future VRTE trainers. Experts gathered from all around the NTCA, including the Customs and Enforcement Departments, the Airport Directorate and Institute for Training, Health and Culture to learn the “nuts and bolts” of the VRTE.
For more information, please, contact the Capacity Building Directorate at capacity.building@wcoomd.org