From 12 to 16 March 2017, the capacity building coordinators of the Customs of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) held their second annual meeting in Doha, Qatar. This meeting jointly organized by the WCO and Qatar Customs was attended by 8 Customs administrations from the region. The meeting benefited from the financial support of the General Authority of Customs of Qatar.

The meeting allowed monitoring the capacity building progress and customs reform at national and regional level.  It also helped initiate a discussion on the role of regional structures, discuss the annual process of identifying assistance needs and develop the regional capacity building cooperation.

The meeting was also designed as an awareness-raising workshop aiming at familiarizing and updating the representatives of the MENA Region Members with the WCO Customs modernization concepts, tools and instruments.  

Capacity building coordinators of Member States who participated in the second regional meeting committed to play a crucial role as a two-way communication and information channel to support the WCO in meeting better the Capacity Building needs of the region.