At the invitation of Mr. Pedro Miguel Pérez Betancourt, Director General of Cuban Customs, and Mr. Ricardo Treviño, Director General of Mexican Customs and Permanent Secretary of COMALEP, WCO Deputy Secretary General Sergio Mujica attended the XXXVIIIth Meeting of the Multilateral Agreement on Mutual Assistance for Directors General of Customs of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP), held in Havana, Cuba, on 18 and 19 May 2017.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Pérez Betancourt and included opening remarks from Mr. Treviño, as well as from the WCO Deputy Secretary General. The speakers highlighted the key role of COMALEP in the exchange of information, and in supporting trade facilitation and protection of society, as well as maintaining the links between Latin America and Europe.

The agenda for the two-day meeting focused essentially on trade facilitation.  Several panel sessions were held during the meeting, covering risk management tools, sharing experiences on identification of dual-use goods, the importance of the Time Release Study as an effective tool for trade facilitation, the work accomplished by the Members of the Pacific Alliance, and e-commerce and the associated challenges faced by the Customs, the postal services and the private sector. Several of the sessions were open to representatives from private sector organizations in the Region, who had the opportunity to ask questions and exchange experiences with the COMALEP Members.

On the second day of the meeting, Deputy Secretary General Mujica presented the main actions and activities carried out by the WCO in the Americas/Caribbean Region, including career development opportunities, capacity building activities and  the tailor-made track of the Mercator Programme to assist Members to effectively and efficiently implement trade facilitation measures.