Annual Meeting of ASEAN Directors-General of Customs

Union of Myanmar, 6-9 June 2011

Report

At the invitation of Acting Director General of the Union of Myanmar Customs Aye Ko, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the Annual Meeting of ASEAN Directors-General of Customs held in Nay Pyi Taw, Union of Myanmar from 6-9 June 2011.

During the ASEAN-WCO consultation session, the ASEAN Secretariat, on behalf of the ten ASEAN Customs administrations, explained the progress in its Customs integration process over the past 12 months, including the development of the ASEAN Risk Management Guide and the ASEAN Single Window.

Acknowledging the movement of ASEAN towards an Economic Community and its willingness to connect with the global community, Secretary General Mikuriya commended ASEAN efforts to base its integration on global Customs and trade standards. He also gave a briefing on current WCO priorities and welcomed feedback from ASEAN members, who were all Members of the WCO, before and during the upcoming WCO Council Sessions.

The meeting also noted and welcomed the close cooperation between ASEAN and the WCO ROCB for the Asia/Pacific region which was based on a common workplan agreed at the last meeting of Directors-General of Customs and support for the "Asia Cargo Highway" project provided by the WCO together with the Asia Development Bank and Japan. Participants also agreed to closer realignment of the ASEAN Data Model with the WCO Data Model as a basis for the ASEAN Single Window.