Twenty five representatives from 20 Customs administrations in the Asia/Pacific Region participated in the WCO Asia/Pacific Regional Workshop on Intelligence-Led Risk Management from 21 to 25 November 2016.

The Workshop, held at the WCO Regional Training Centre in Faridabad-India, was organized in cooperation with India Customs and the Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P), with the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF-Japan).

During the opening remarks; Mr. P. K. Dash, Director General of the Indian Customs Training Center (NACEN), and representatives of the CCF-Japan, WCO and ROCB A/P highlighted the importance of intelligence, risk management and pre-arrival cargo information in Customs’ daily work. They also emphasized the relationship between risk-based cargo selectivity and effective resource allocation and trade facilitation.

Certain elements of intelligence support to risk management at the organizational level were covered throughout the Workshop while the main focus was given to intelligence support to operational risk management (e.g. security treats and related types of customs fraud). Main components of pre-arrival and pre-loading advance cargo information were also covered. Workshop included a number of group tasks, practical exercises, case studies and country presentations. Each session was followed by lively discussions, questions and answers.

Throughout the group works and country presentations, participants entered into in-depth discussions on how to identify high-risk cargo by utilizing advance cargo information and the methodology explained in the WCO Customs Risk Management Compendium. Case studies and practical exercises also contributed to deepening an understanding of the topics.