Integrity Development Workshop for the Albanian Customs Administration
Tirana, 4-8 October 2010
Integrity issues are high on the new Albanian Customs management’s agenda as the country is on its way to full-fledged EU membership. At the request of the Director General of Albanian Customs, on 4-8 October 2010 integrity experts from the World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretariat and from Norwegian Customs delivered a support mission to Tirana aiming at conducting an integrity self-assessment and developing a relevant and practically-oriented integrity development action plan. The workshop was conducted using the so-called Eurocustoms-fund made available to the WCO by the European Members.
The workshop was designed as a very dynamic and pro-active event oriented to practical solutions. The participants made an assessment of all activities already taken by their administration to adhere to the highest standards in the field of integrity covering all the 10 elements of the Revised Arusha Declaration. They showed a keen interest in developing and implementing concrete and practically-oriented measures related to strengthening integrity which they could implement in their everyday work. They also benefited from sharing of experience with the WCO experts and with their colleagues from different units and learning about innovative approaches and practices in dealing with integrity issues.
The Workshop was attended by staff from different units and sectors of Albanian Customs and resulted in the development of a draft Integrity Action Plan. The draft Plan is built around the 10 elements of the Revised Arusha Declaration and consequently covers all aspects of the Customs administration’s work from an integrity perspective.
The implementation of the Integrity Action Plan will be monitored by the Training and Ethics Sector, which was also responsible for organizing the Workshop, and the WCO pledged its commitment to continue supporting Albanian Customs during the implementation phase with guidance and monitoring services to ensure continuity of the implementation process.