From 28 March to 2 June 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop on integrity promotion in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Organized with financial assistance from the WCO Reserve Customs Cooperation Fund, the workshop was attended by 26 officials from the State Customs Service of Turkmenistan.
The workshop was officially opened by a Senior Representative of the State Customs Service (SCS) of Turkmenistan. During his opening remarks, he thanked the WCO Secretariat for organizing the integrity promotion workshop for the benefit of the Turkmenistan Customs Service. Additionally, he acknowledged that integrity represents a core value for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the SCS and that, for this reason, the Customs Service has been promoting it in a continuous manner. He pointed out some of the initiatives the SCS has undertaken on integrity, particularly from the human resource angle.
Throughout the workshop, the experts shared knowledge and experience on different matters related to the WCO policy on integrity promotion, including key instruments and tools for use by Customs in their efforts to combat corruption, such as the Revised Arusha Declaration, the Integrity Development Guide, and the Transparency and Predictability Guidelines. The consequences of corruption and the need to reduce the high degree of discretionary power in Customs were among some of the aspects discussed during the workshop.
Additionally, the workshop allowed the experts to underscore how implementing trade facilitation standards can enhance transparency and predictability at the border. Among others, the Revised Kyoto Convention on Simplification and Harmonization of Customs procedures was highlighted as the blueprint for modern and efficient Customs procedures in the 21st Century, which has been acceded to by the majority of the WCO Members.
At the end of the workshop, the experts held a meeting with the management team of the SCS headed by the Deputy Chairman, where the outcomes of the workshop were reported. The WCO experts also took the opportunity and had a fruitful discussion on a wide range of issues of the bilateral cooperation between the WCO and Turkmenistan.
For more information, please, contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org.