From 18 to 22 September 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered technical assistance on Data Analytics to the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) of Colombia in Bogota within the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) framework.
The 5-day workshop focused on building capacities and providing guidance to the Colombian NCTF in data analytics focused on data quality and supervised and non-supervised machine learning to develop their Integrated Risk Management System.
This activity brought together 25 officials from various government agencies, including the Customs Administration, the Ministry of Trade, the National Institute of Surveillance of Medicines and Food Sanitary (INVIMA), the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) and the Anti-drug Police Agency. The technical assistance also counted the kind participation and support of a scholar from the WCO BACUDA Project and the Korean Customs Service, whose officers joined online to share their practices and lessons learnt with the participants.
Throughout the intense sessions, the WCO experts shared best practices on big data analytics, presented applied cases, and discussed data analytics techniques and algorithms. As a result, the NCTF identified the way forward in the use of techniques for analyzing data and the development of cross-cutting variables to drive their Integrated Risk Management System.
The WCO and the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) emphasize the importance of coordinated efforts among Customs and Other Government Agencies (OGAs) to achieve trade facilitation goals and strengthen risk management systems in countries.
For more information on the GTFP, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.