As part of a continuous effort by Bahrain customs to enhance risk management capabilities to a "best practice" level as well as to effectively and efficiently embed risk management practices in customs operations, a Risk Management Workshop was conducted from 10 to 13 March 2014 in Manama, Bahrain.

The four-day Workshop brought together 42 participants in an interactive and practical working environment that enabled a lively exchange of experiences, best practices and challenges in the area of risk management. The workshop was also attended by participants from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and entirely self-funded by Bahrain Customs.

Throughout the workshop, participants learned how to develop and implement a customs risk assessment system based on profiling and targeting. They discussed the identification of key risk areas and related risk indicators applicable to land, maritime and air cargo movements. Participants were also given an opportunity to explore issues related to the identification and categorization of importers and exporters and to the implementation of intelligence tasking, intelligence briefing and operational reporting communication cycle.

In addition, participants consolidated, during the workshop, their understanding of technical concepts in this domain, as outlined in the WCO Risk Management Compendium, through practical learning methods. They were also provided with an overview of other WCO tools contained in the Compliance and Enforcement Package that serve to support their tasks in this area.

Feedback from participants included appreciation of sharing experience of the WCO experts and the practical nature of the workshop.