The 3rd Regional Meeting of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Capacity Building in the Americas and the Caribbean region (AMS) was held from 5 to 7 March 2019 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The activity was jointly organized with the Regional Office for Capacity Building for the Americas and the Caribbean (ROCB-AMS) and the Dominican Republic General Directorate of Customs as Vice-Chair of the AMS Region.
The NCPs meeting aimed at deepening and updating the participants' knowledge of the WCO Capacity Building programmes, initiatives and the ongoing revised strategy. It also included enhancing the awareness of the NCPs on their role, and ways of contributing to the work of the WCO Secretariat and the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) in the Capacity Building domain.
The WCO Secretariat’s contribution focused on the upcoming proposals for the WCO Strategic Plan 2019-2022, as well as the guidelines of the Capacity Building Strategy 2019-2022 to be presented at the 10th Capacity Building Committee. While the Vice-Chair highlighted the accomplishments on the Regional Strategic Plan for 2016-2020, the ROCB reported on its activities, challenges and proposals. The NCPs shared their national plans covering both capacity building and training activities, and provided feedback to the ROCB and WCO on ways to improve their roles as NCPs.
Since the first meeting in 2017, major improvements have been solidified, including strengthening the contact network of the NCPs, and the creation of several groups that will focus regional efforts to support the role of the ROCB-AMS. Twenty-one Customs administrations, the Regional Vice-Chair, the WCO Secretariat, and the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) participated in the meeting. The final day of the meeting was held at the Regional Training Centre (RTC), Prof. J. Bosch, in Santo Domingo.