In its ongoing endeavours to support the Member administrations in capacity building activities, the WCO conducted a sub-regional workshop on Risk and Compliance Management at the Regional Training Centre in Suva, Fiji, from 18 to 22 March 2019 in collaboration with the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB), Asia/Pacific (A/P) region and Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS). The workshop was made possible through the financial support of the Customs Cooperation Fund of Japan (CCF/Japan)

Participants from Customs Administrations of the Pacific Islands, namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Timor Leste participated in the workshop. The ROCB A/P provided assistance in making all logistical arrangements for the successful conduct of the workshop.

In his opening address, Mr. Visvanath Das, CEO of the FRCS, welcomed the participants and facilitators to the workshop. He pointed out that each Customs administration faces numerous risks mainly related to revenue and security that need to be properly addressed by striking the right balance between controls and facilitation. He highlighted the workshop’s objectives that aimed at identifying common strategies and sharing best practices in applying risk and compliance management techniques for Customs in dealing with cargo and passenger traffic. He also thanked the WCO, the ROCB A/P and CCF/Japan for supporting the Customs administrations of the region.

In the course of the workshop, participants were invited to present and discuss the risk management architecture of their respective administrations. They also participated in group exercises on the development of profiles, targeting and compliance management. The workshop aimed at strengthening the existing Risk Management practices by focusing on risk assessment, profiling, reviewing and modifying profiles, selectivity and categorization of traders as well as performance measurement of the risk management system.

The participants showed great interest and were actively involved in practical exercises and interactive discussions to share their experiences and best practices. They were very keen and enthusiastic to understand the risk management principles of the different organizations and their level of understanding of these principles, procedures and practices was quite high. All participants showed keen interest and commitment in improving the risk management functions within their respective administrations.

The workshop ended with the closing remarks of Mr. Roben Chand, Deputy Director, Revenue Management, Fiji Revenue and Customs Service. He extended his appreciation to the WCO for its continued support in different programmes and to the ROCB A/P, CCF/Japan, and the resource persons for their commitment and dedication.