At the invitation of H.E. Erkinkhon Rahmatullozoda, Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to Belgium, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, met with H.E. Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan, during his visit to Brussels, Belgium on 12 October 2021.

President Rahmon was appreciative of the good relationship between the WCO and his country, especially after Dr. Mikuriya’s visit to Dushanbe, Tajikistan in October 2019. Secretary General Mikuriya welcomed Tajikstan’s strong political commitment at the highest levels, which had led to Tajikistan’s accession to the Revised Kyoto Convention in May 2020, shortly after his visit to Dushanbe. This demonstrated the country’s resolve to develop its Customs system in line with WCO and other international standards.

Underscoring the importance of Customs, President Rahmon stated that his priority in this respect was to build human resource capacity. Dr. Mikuriya suggested several ways to address this important topic, such as ensuring that Customs officers had more exposure to the WCO and to other countries so they could gain inspiration from best practices around the world and subsequently drive Customs reform in their own country. He also expressed the WCO’s willingness to take cooperation with Customs administrations in Central Asia to the next level, so as to maximize the region’s potential.

The meeting concluded with both the President and the Secretary General agreeing on enhanced bilateral cooperation.