The WCO organized a Pre-Accreditation Workshop for Technical and Operational Advisors (TOAs) on Risk Management at the WCO Regional Training Center (RTC) in Bangkok from 21 to 25 November 2022. This workshop was sponsored by the Customs Cooperation Fund of China (CCF-China), and organized as part of the strategic approach taken by the WCO aiming at expanding the pool of WCO experts in order to respond to the needs expressed by the WCO Members on these important subjects in a time manner.

The workshop was attended by twelve participants invited from Asia-Pacific region. Throughout the workshop, all participants worked intensively and demonstrated their knowledge, skills, techniques and, most importantly, enthusiasm to contribute to the capacity building activities to be made by the WCO in the future. Successful participants at the workshop will be invited to the next stage of the WCO expert accreditation process, an in-field mission with a WCO lead expert. It is expected that those participants who successfully complete the accreditation process will be added to the expert pool and work together with the WCO for the benefit of Members who require support from the WCO for the improvement of their Risk Management capacity.

This was the first regional workshop held in the RTC in Thailand, which was established in October 2022. At the opening ceremony, Ms. Nunthita Sirikup, Deputy Director General of the Thai Customs Department, warmly welcomed all participants, and expressed her willingness to support the WCO’s regional activities, including building capabilities in the area of risk management. The workshop was successfully completed thanks to the dedicated support of the Thai Customs Department.