WCO Secretary General Ian Saunders attended the 92nd INTERPOL General Assembly that took place from 4 to 7 November 2024, in Glasgow, United Kingdom. This General Assembly was a pivotal moment in history of both INTERPOL and the WCO that welcomed their respective new leadership in 2024.
During the General Assembly, Secretary General Saunders contributed to a panel discussion on “Sustaining Multilateralism: The Path Towards An Integrated Global Security Architecture’’ alongside other high-level speakers, including H.E. Nurlan Yermekbayev, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; Lt. Col. Michael Jones, Executive Director of CARICOM-IMPACS, and Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization. The discussion, led by Darrin Jones, Executive Director of INTERPOL’s Strategic Planning and Partnerships Directorate, focused on the future of the multilateral cooperation in the era of polycrises.
The WCO Secretary General emphasized that having a multistakeholder approach is a must, given the complexity of challenges faced today. He underlined the unique value added by Customs administrations as agencies that have a wealth of information on the cross-border movement of goods that can make critical contributions to better intelligence and heightened situational awareness. In particular, he highlighted the need to continue efforts in bringing Customs and Police to work together, particularly in the border security context, where the whole-of-government approach to protect society is the only possible way forward in the face of increasingly sophisticated trade and criminality.
On the margins of the General Assembly, Secretary General Saunders held a bilateral meeting with the newly elected INTERPOL Secretary General, Valdecy Urquiza. During the meeting, the excellent relationship between the two organizations was emphasized along with the leaders' shared desire to explore ways to enhance the WCO and INTERPOL working together. The Secretary General also had a series of bilateral meetings with INTERPOL’s Executive Directors and their teams to explore ways how to maintain and improve engagements in specific areas of interest to both organizations.