As part of the implementation of the Sudan Customs strategic plan for 2013-2016, a risk management and risk assessment workshop was conducted, under the sponsorship of the WCO Eurocustoms fund, in Khartoum, Sudan, from 19 to 22 May 2014 in order to assist Sudan Customs to effectively and efficiently embed risk management practices in Customs operations - with particular emphasis on how to establish and maintain national targeting centers and administer a robust Customs selectively system.

During the workshop, participants examined critical issues related to the development and maintenance of a solid Customs risk management system; and how to embed risk management practices in Customs day-to-day operations. Participants were given the opportunity to learn how to develop and implement a Customs risk assessment system based on profiling and targeting. They discussed the identification of key risk areas and related risk indicators applicable to sea cargo, air cargo and land cargo movements.

Case studies were used and sharing of experiences encouraged in order to enhance the understanding of technical concepts in this domain, as outlined in the WCO Risk Management Compendium. An overview of the WCO tools contained in the Compliance and Enforcement Package was also provided to the participants to support their tasks in this area.

Feedback from participants was very positive, indicating that the workshop was useful, met expectations, and provided them with a better understanding of intelligence-based risk management.