7th Informal Meeting of the WCO ROCBs/RTCs
Brussels, 23 and 24 February 2012
Report by Mr. Souleymane Sangaré, Chairperson of the 7th Meeting
The 7th Informal Meeting of the Regional Offices for Capacity Building (ROCBs), the Regional Training Centres (RTCs) and the Vice-Chairs of the World Customs Organization (WCO) was held on 23 and 24 February 2012 at WCO headquarters in Brussels. The Meeting was chaired by Mr.Souleymane SANGARE, Director of the ROCB for West and Central Africa.
This 7th Meeting, which enjoyed a record turnout by delegates, also benefitted from the presence of Mr.Chris Henderson, Chairperson of the WCO Capacity Building Committee.
The Meeting focused on vital issues of co-ordination and communication in the area of governance, and the participants agreed to explore these important topics in greater detail.
During the discussions, participants reported on quantitative and qualitative progress within the regional structures (ROCBs/RTCs), as well as the latter’s growing involvement in the many modernization processes within the respective regions.
A number of new and extremely interesting regional experiments were presented by the ROCBs and RTCs, especially in terms of regional co-ordination of donors, implementation of collaborative management mechanisms, and reporting between regional structures and the WCO, as initiated through the operational strategy for capacity building, strengthening
cross-cutting partnerships and regional coaching.
The regional structures shared information on their different experiences of capacity building and the good practices in use in each region. They stressed the need to formalize particular regional initiatives so that they could serve as references for all the other regions.
Regional break-out sessions afforded participants an opportunity to address the specific characteristics of each region with the Secretariat. New strategies were put forward for a more targeted response to the challenges posed by organization development as faced by each of the regional entities.
The participants also noted developments in terms of the Customs modernization and reform tools and instruments set up on the initiative of the WCO Secretariat.
At the end of their 7th Meeting, the WCO ROCBs and RTCs made a number of recommendations to the 3rd Meeting of the Capacity Building Committee which were presented during the latter’s plenary session on 29 February 2012.