New impetus for Customs reform in Latin America

At the invitation of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) and Uruguay’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya participated in a Seminar on “Modernization of Customs Management for Trade Facilitation”. This event was organized jointly by ALADI and the MEF at ALADI Headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 16 July 2014, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the WCO. The objective was to share and analyse Customs modernization experiences in the context of Latin American regional integration, taking into account last year’s adoption of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation.

At the opening session, both the President of the ALADI Committee of Representatives, Her Excellency Aída García Naranjo Morales, Ambassador of Peru to Uruguay, and the ALADI Secretary General, Mr. Carlos Álvarez, talked about the gradual changes in terms of trade facilitation following ALADI Members’ regional integration efforts. The current intra-regional share of ALADI Member countries’ trade around the world remains at 17% and could be improved through Customs reform and other border procedures. Uruguay’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Mario Bergara, recalled Customs’ critical missions of balancing facilitation and control and described how Uruguay Customs had moved forward with modernization to gain competitiveness. The IDB Representative, Mr. Miguel Taborga, informed the meeting about the IDB’s support for trade facilitation in close collaboration with the WCO. Secretary General Mikuriya spoke about the need to enhance connectivity at borders to bring about regional integration through the implementation of global standards on Customs procedures.

The Seminar started with three presentations on the global framework: the first was given by
Dr. Mikuriya on the WCO’s role in implementing the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation, including the Mercator Programme; the second by the Director General of Uruguay Customs, Mr. Enrique Canon, on the SAFE Framework of Standards and implementation of the Authorized Economic Operator scheme; and the third by an IDB Leading Expert, Mr. Manuel Marquez Fariña, on effective coordinated border management. Participants then shared their regional and sub-regional experiences, including efforts by the Andean Community through MERCOSUR, SIECA (Central-American Economic Integration System), the Pacific Alliance and ALADI. This was complemented by information sharing by the IDB on the progress with its transit and single window projects, by Brazil on its diverse experiences, and by the private sector on its perspective.

The meeting concluded that Latin American Customs administrations have progressively moved towards a new paradigm of gaining competitiveness in the region, however they should seize the opportunity offered by the WTO to further enhance regional integration through the continued efforts of Customs reform in the interests of trade facilitation.