The Global Meeting of the Regional Entities established by the WCO Members and the Council Vice-chairs’ Offices held its 17th Session on 17-18 February in a hybrid format enabling delegates who could not travel to participate remotely via an online platform.
The 17th Global Meeting was chaired by Mr. Larry Liza, Director of ROCB East and South Africa and was attended by over 140 delegates representing Vice-Chair offices (VCOs), Regional Offices for Capacity Building (ROCB), Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO), Regional Training Centers (RTC), Regional Dog Training Centers (RDTC), Regional Customs Laboratories (RCL) and host Administrations of regional entities.
During the course of interactive discussions over two days, the meeting addressed a range of issues of common interest, such as latest the development of tools that support strategic human resource management, including the WCO Guide to Managing Customs’ Human Capital through Crises and Beyond and the WCO Learning and Development Evaluation Tools. The participants also exchanged views and supported the recently developed WCO Middle Management Development (MMD) Training Programme.
Following the requests from the delegates to the previous Global Meeting, at the 17th Global Meeting, interested Regional Entities had an opportunity to share their experiences and good practices with other delegates.
The Global Meeting was also informed by the competent WCO Directorates and units about recent developments in their work areas, primarily focusing on areas that impact CB activities and the work of the regional entities.
The participants reconfirmed their willingness to work closely with each other to ensure strategic and cohesive functioning and carry out activities in supporting Members in their efforts in Customs reform and modernisation.
The Global Meeting elected Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Director of ROCB AP, as the Chairperson and Mr. Ulugbek Tadjiev from Uzbekistan Customs Service as the Vice-chairperson of the next 18th Global Meeting.