ASEAN Directors General of Customs celebrate the WCO’s 60th anniversary and ASEAN’s 45th anniversary

Manila, 5-8 June2012

Report

At the invitation of Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Philippines Customs, Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya of the WCO attended the 21st Meeting of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Directors-General of Customs in Manila, Philippines from 5-8 June 2012.

The Secretary General together with representatives from the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) had a consultation session on 8 June with ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Lim Hong Hin and Directors General of Customs of ten ASEAN countries, all of which are also WCO Members.

During the consultation session, participants shared information on developments in their respective organizations and on the cooperation programme between them. The ASEAN group expressed strong interest in IPM as a means to enhance the fight against counterfeiting and in nCEN as a tool for sharing intelligence. The Directors General also supported efforts to ensure consistency between the WCO Data Model and its ASEAN version, which is the basis for the ASEAN Single Window project.

This annual consultation session provided the opportunity for the WCO and ASEAN countries to maintain coherence between the global Customs agenda and the regional integration process in Southeast Asia, as well as to enhance regional and global connectivity.

The Meeting ended with a gala dinner organized by the Philippines Bureau of Customs to celebrate the 60th anniversary of WCO together with the 45th anniversary of ASEAN.