Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Meeting of Heads of Customs Arab League Headquarters, Cairo , Egypt

1 February 2009

Report

The MENA region consisting of 17 Members organized its regional meeting of Heads of Customs in Cairo, Egypt from 1-2 February 2009.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Zaghnoun, Director General of Customs in Morocco, in his capacity as Vice Chair of the WCO and regional representative for the WCO MENA region, with the participation of WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya.

Participants discussed the gradual introduction of Arabic in WCO activities to increase the participation of regional Members. Capacity building and technical assistance was also of major interest in the region where Members have expressed their desire to develop regional experts to support the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) in Dubai and the Regional Training Centre (TRC) in Alexandria, Egypt. Regional Members also expressed the strong need for sharing experiences and best practice in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. Delegates reported their progress in implementing the SAFE Framework of Standards and their ratification of the revised Kyoto Convention. They also took the opportunity to exchange information on measures taken to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis on international trade.