WCO organized an accreditation workshop for Expert Trainers (ET) on HS classification and Customs valuation at the WCO Headquarter in Brussels from 16 to 20 October 2017. This workshop was organized in cooperation with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) as part of the strategic approach taken by the WCO aiming at expanding the pool of WCO expert trainers on HS classification and Customs valuation in order to respond to the needs expressed by the WCO members on these important subjects.

The workshop was attended by thirteen participants invited from the five EAC Partner States, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Those participants are part of the "Master Trainer Program" conducted jointly by the WCO and JICA to develop more sustainable and self-contained training capacity in East Africa. The participants took part in a series of training activities jointly conducted by the WCO and JICA to become quality trainers and are now actively contributing to the delivery of training on HS classification and Customs valuation in East Africa. With the slogan of "From East Africa to the World", they were invited to participate in the WCO accreditation workshop and become an asset of the global Customs community through WCO accreditation.

Throughout the workshop, all participants worked intensively and demonstrated their knowledge, skills, techniques and, most importantly, enthusiasm to contribute to the capacity building activities to be made by the WCO in the future. During the workshop, participants were also given an opportunity to pay a courtesy call to the Secretary-General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya. The Secretary-General welcomed the participants, acknowledging their contribution and expressed his expectation that they will contribute to sustainable training delivery in East Africa. He further encouraged them to become global assets as WCO Expert Trainers and contribute to the capacity building activities to be conducted by the WCO all over the world.

Successful participants to the workshop will be invited to the next stage of the WCO expert accreditation process, an in-field mission with a WCO lead expert. It is expected that those participants who successfully complete the accreditation process will be added to the expert pool and work together with the WCO for the benefit of Members who require support from the WCO for the improvement of their HS classification and Customs valuation capacity.