The 18th Meeting of the Heads of Asia/Pacific WCO Regional Training Centers (RTCs) was held virtually on 15 October 2020 hosted by the Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P). The Heads of the seven RTCs in the region (China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Malaysia), Asia/Pacific Vice-Chair Office of Indonesia Customs, representatives from the WCO Secretariat and the ROCB A/P participated in the meeting, as well as observers from Iran Customs and the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO AP).

During the Opening Session, Mr. Taeil Kang, Director Capacity Building of the WCO expressed his highest gratitude to the RTCs for their continuous support to the WCO activities.  He also emphasized the importance of RTCs and the ROCB as pillars of the regionalization policy in the WCO capacity building while highlighting the significant contribution from the A/P region to the WCO.

The WCO has introduced COVID-19 dedicated page with measures taken by the WCO for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially focusing on the collaboration with other organizations as well as on the capacity building activities.  Subsequently the A/P Vice-Chair Office provided recent updates on its policy and initiatives, followed by the ROCB AP report on the capacity building activities delivered in 2019-20.

The Heads of RTCs exchanged views on how to enhance Customs capacities through strengthened professionalism and human resource networks so as to ultimately contribute to Customs modernization efforts in the region. Furthermore the RTCs shared experience/practice and provided their recent initiatives to maintain the function as a training center during the COVID-19 pandemic. They agreed that it is important to expand and deepen cooperation among the region as well as the WCO and the ROCB A/P, particularly during challenging times.

For more information please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org