On 24 October 2022 the WCO kicked off its series of regional consultations on WCO modernization, beginning with the MENA region. Thirteen Member administrations participated in this fully virtual consultation.
The MENA regional consultation was chaired jointly by the regional Vice-Chair, Mr. Jalal Qudah of Jordan, and WCO Deputy Secretary General Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa. The discussions focused on seven specific issues, identified from an initial diagnostic prepared by the Secretariat concerning the current internal situation of the Organization and potential improvements for moving towards overall WCO modernization.
The participants from the MENA region welcomed this initiative and expressed the view that ambition was needed in order to improve the current processes and make them better adapted to global realities and trends. They agreed that WCO governance would benefit from more standardization and streamlining of internal protocols, especially in relation to human resources (HR) and project management, and the regional entities. They considered that a corporate approach in these areas would strengthen the WCO and enhance its assertiveness, allowing for improved resource management and more balanced negotiations with donors. Overall, they believed that the WCO needed to switch from its role of “organizer” towards a role of proactive “initiator” of projects and activities. Transparency and seamless flow charts were particularly seen as enablers in this context.
In his concluding remarks, the Vice-Chair for the MENA region acknowledged that modernization was a long-term process, and welcomed the fact that the WCO had started to address it with the full involvement of the Members. The Deputy Secretary General thanked the MENA Region for its fruitful contribution and gave an assurance that the process would remain fully transparent and inclusive for the membership.
The WCO Modernization Plan is one of the key deliverables specified in the Strategic Plan 2022-2025 for responding to the needs identified in the Focus Area “Governance and accountability”. These regional consultations will be pursued, with the objective of presenting a Modernization Plan to the Policy Commission and Council in June 2023 for endorsement.