At the invitation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya spoke to transport ministers at the opening session of the ICAO World Aviation Forum, held at ICAO headquarters in Montreal, Canada from 23 to 25 November 2015.
To realize the shared goal of ensuring connectivity of air cargo and passengers in a safe and secure environment, Secretary General Mikuriya stressed the importance of developing global standards, through the provision of capacity building, especially to enable countries to implement these standards, and through cooperation with both public and private stakeholders.
This would be a viable way to address the Sustainable Development Goals while encouraging policymakers and development partners to invest in human resources and infrastructure. In this respect, he explained and welcomed the close collaboration with ICAO as a model for Coordinated Border Management, the WCO’s theme for 2015, by developing global standards for sharing advance cargo information, seeking synergy between the respective global standards on business partnerships and providing joint training.
Dr Mikuriya also explained the recent Customs contribution to security and asked transport ministers for further cooperation. He had a bilateral meeting with the Secretary General of ICAO, Dr Fang Liu, to review and agree on areas for future collaboration between the two organizations.
WCO Secretary General also took the opportunity to visit the World Anti-Doping Agency and had discussions with its Director General, Mr. Davis Howman, and Director General Designate, Mr. Olivier Niggli, about prospective steps to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations.
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WCO Secretary General Dr Kunio Mikuriya and ICAO Secretary General Dr Fang Liu