Geneva, 04-05 November 2014
At the invitation of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the WCO participated in the 4th IATA Cargo and Mail Security Forum held in Geneva, Switzerland from 4 - 5 November 2014.
The Forum aimed to increase the understanding of latest legal requirement and initiatives, focusing on Customs and supply chain security topics, including trade facilitation developments, increasing airline participation in AEO programmes, latest changes to global cargo security regulations and benefits from capacity development initiatives.
Opening remarks came from IATA Senior Vice President – Airport, Passenger, Cargo and Security, Mr. Thomas Windmuller, and IATA Director General Tony Tyler who both drew attention of delegates to the comprehensive forum agenda and invited participants representing Airlines, freight forwarders, service providers, private sector, international organizations, Customs and other governmental agencies to use the forum as an interactive platform for exchange of experience and discussions on ways forward. The WCO Deputy Director for Compliance and Facilitation, Heike Barczyk, was invited to give a keynote speech on day one of the Forum - in addition to participation of WCO representatives in three of the five panel sessions of the Forum. Discussions during these panel sessions included topics such as the WCO pre-loading air cargo security text in the SAFE Framework of Standards, AEO benefits and enhancement of Trade Facilitation and Security, taking into account recent Trade Facilitation developments.
You can find the programme with further details of the Forum here: http://www.iata.org/events/Documents/cargomailsecurity-forum-agenda.pdf