Under the auspices of the WCO/JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Joint Project, a sub-regional working Group Activity one (WG1) on Customs valuation under the Master Trainer Programme for Pacific Islands was held virtually from 27 September to 1 October 2021 with the support of the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) for the Asia/Pacific region. This working group activity is the kick off activity of the Master Trainer Programme on Customs valuation launched to support the Pacific Islands Customs Administrations in developing a “Regional Experts Pool” for more sustainable capacity building.
The Master Trainer Programme or MTP is a programme that will be conducted under the WCO/JICA Joint Project to develop sustainable and self-contained training capacity by 1) developing a pool of well-experienced trainers and 2) regionally featured training materials and programme to be used by these trainers. To achieve that objective, a series of progressive activities will be undertaken by the participating Customs Administrations – Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, supported by the WCO and JICA. Upon completion of this MTP, the Master Trainers are expected to deliver training on Customs valuation not only in their respective administrations but also for the benefit of other countries in the region.
In total, eleven (11) Customs officials nominated by the six Revenue Authorities and Customs Administrations in the Pacific Islands got together virtually. During the workshop, each Customs administration shared its issues and challenges it is facing in implementing Customs valuation as well as efforts in strengthening uniform application of Customs valuation. Invited experts from the WCO, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and Japan Customs shared their knowledge and expertise on Customs valuation from global and national perspectives and contributed to the improvement of the knowledge and expertise of participants to be quality trainers. In addition, the OCO Secretariat participated and presented the regional efforts to improve the Customs valuation function in their member countries and their Human Resources development strategy and policy. At the end of the Working Group Activity, participants jointly developed their collective work plan to achieve the two objectives of the MTP through the progressive follow-up activities. Participants expressed their strong appreciation to the WCO and JICA for this new opportunity as well as to the participating experts for their dedication and sharing their valuable knowledge and expertise.
Both WCO and JICA welcomed the strong ownership and commitment clearly demonstrated by the participants during the workshop and reaffirmed their support to the continuous efforts of Customs Administrations in the Pacific Islands to ensure sustainable capacity development.
For more information on the WCO/JICA Master Trainer Programme, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.