The WCO’s Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, funded by the United Kingdom’s His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), organized its annual National Focal Points Meeting at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels from 3 to 5 June 2025 to assess the results achieved in the past year and common challenges faced, while welcoming two new partner countries – The Maldives and Guyana.

The Programme aims to support the effective implementation of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO-TFA), which enhances predictability and transparency in cross-border trade procedures, reduces trade costs, and fosters trade-led inclusive growth and economic prosperity, while also boosting compliance and security. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the Programme has multi-year strategic partnerships with now 13 partner countries – Eswatini, The Gambia, Guyana, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, The Maldives, Namibia, Nigeria, The Philippines, South Africa, and Zambia.

In times when donor funds are under pressure, the deliberations most notably focused on obtaining tangible results and maximizing the sustainability of the Programme’s capacity building and technical assistance. The countries agreed that national ownership and clear leadership commitment are prerequisites for successful reform journeys. Therefore, priorities should be embedded in national plans, such as Customs Strategic Plans or Modernization Plans and/or National Committees on Trade Facilitation (NTFCs) Action Plans, while also safeguarding obtained institutional knowledge and ensuring clear accountability. In this light, the group concluded that the Programme is a vital accountability partner in maintaining the momentum for reforms and tracking progress throughout reform journeys. In this context, the complementarity with the work of Programme partner UNCTAD in supporting NTFCs was highlighted in several joint partnership countries.

HMRC’s Head of Customs International, Megan Shaw, emphasized that the Programme is needs-driven, while also highlighting the importance of national ownership and buy-in for a country’s reform process. The critical role of enhancing a business-enabling environment and results for achieving economic prosperity was also emphasized by the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa, who further noted that “as a WCO, we have to have a keen eye on sustainability and real results. We need to set clear priorities and focus on where we can be of the greatest added value. This is also at the core of our new Capacity-Building Paradigm”. Several countries concluded that the WCO’s peer-to-peer exchange, which aligns with the new Capacity-Building Paradigm, holds significant value.

It is recognized that reforms take time to yield results, and developing countries often face challenges along the way, including leadership changes or required legislative amendments. However, the longevity of the Programme has allowed reforms to progress over time, with tangible results materializing.  During the meeting, the group zoomed in on remarkable results achieved recently in various partner countries, including, for example, the launch of the AEO Programme in Nigeria, where AEO pilot companies already showed an initial cost reduction of over EUR 60.000 and an average 66.9% reduction in cargo clearance time, air cargo streamlining in Zambia where 500 documents are now cleared within hours as compared to the previous manual processing, and risk management in The Philippines with a 50% increase in analysts' profiling output providing a measurable leap in operational efficiency and targeting precision. Moreover, Integrity reforms in The Philippines and South Africa over the past 3-4 years have resulted in a greater overall positive perception of the respective Customs administrations by the Private Sector.   

For more information on the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, please see here.

For more information on WCO capacity building, please contact Capacity.Building@wcoomd.org.