The 7th session of the WCO Capacity Building Committee (CBC) was successfully held in Brussels from 11–13 April 2016.

The Secretary General welcomed participants to the 7th session of the CBC, noting the recent difficulties in Brussels but re-affirmed the commitment to go on with "business as usual". The Secretary-General then welcomed the new CBC Chair and the new management team within the Capacity Building Directorate.

Under the 2016 CBC theme of "The Future of Customs - Capacity Building for Sustainability" and the WCO Theme for 2016 "Digital Customs - Progressive Engagement", the Secretary General outlined several important topics that would be discussed at this year’s meeting under the broad headings of Strategies, Partnerships and People.

Reminding delegates of the diversity of the Customs environment, the Secretary General provided delegates with an update from December’s 2015 Policy Commission. He highlighted the Punta Cana resolution which focused on security and on several major WCO initiatives since the last CBC. This included the work to update the WCO Strategic Plan, the development of the WCO Security Programme, support to Members focused on further enhancing the WCO Mercator Programme and the goal of Achieving Excellence in Customs through effective Performance Measurement.

The CBC welcomed the remarks about future work and took note of the delivery report provided by the Director Capacity Building. He reported that almost 400 support missions had been conducted since the last CBC. The CBC also noted with appreciation the progress made in the area of human resource management and the further development of WCO tools and instruments. The Director emphasized the important part played by IT solutions and new technology as the basis for sustained reform and modernization. He encouraged all administrations to consider their capacities and future requirements in this regard.

The CBC took note of the reports and recommendations made by the Chair of the 11^th Global ROCB-RTC-VC (Regional Office of Capacity Building – Regional Training Centre – Vice Chair ) meeting which was held in Brussels on 7-8 April, just prior to the CBC. The update from the Secretariat and the Chairperson of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Working Group highlighted recent initiatives related to TFA.

The CBC 7^th Session was also a historic event as it marked the first joint session of the Capacity Building Committee and the Integrity Sub-Committee. The two committees decided to hold a joint session to address the common issue of human resource management. The two committees expect to meet again jointly next year.

Participants of the CBC also benefitted from many lunch-break Side Events which provided insights into ongoing WCO Capacity Building and member projects and initiatives.

The 7^th session of the CBC was chaired by Mr. Per Arvid Nordli from Norway, who was re-elected as Chair. Mr. Guntar Campos from Cape Verde was elected as the Vice-Chair of the next CBC session which is tentatively scheduled to take place in Brussels 6-8 March 2017.