Meeting between the WCO Secretary General and the Swedish Minister of Trade

11 November 2009

Report

Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited Minister Eva Björling, Swedish Minister of Trade, on 11 November 2009 at her office in Stockholm.

On behalf of the global Customs community, the Secretary General expressed his profound appreciation for Sweden’s generous support for the use of other international languages within the WCO as this support facilitated and increased the participation in WCO activities of Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries to increase their participation in the WCO activities. He also thanked Sweden for its contribution to capacity building through the WCO Columbus Programme.

The Minister renewed her commitment to continue to support the WCO; underscoring the important role Customs plays in facilitating trade.

They also discussed ways to strengthen the global trading system, the WTO Doha Development Agenda, and assistance with regional integration in developing countries. Ms. Karin Starrin, the Director General of Swedish Customs, and Mr. Lars Karlsson, the WCO Director of Capacity Building, also participated in the meeting.

Earlier on the same day, Mr. Mikuriya had a meeting with Ms. Starrin and her team to discuss the Customs aspects of the Swedish EU Presidency and its synergy with WCO activities, as well as the recent incorporation of a risk management approach into Swedish Customs’ management structure. The Secretary General valued the Swedish experience as a basis for knowledge sharing among WCO Members and appreciated its important contribution to WCO capacity building.

Click here to read the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ article on the visit