Opening of the Regional Training Center in Brasilia
Brasilia (Brazil), 6-8 April 2010
Report
At the invitation of the Director General of Brazil Customs, Mr. Fausto Coutinho, WCO Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya, participated in the opening ceremony of the Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Brasilia on 6 April 2010. To mark the opening, the RTC organized an international seminar on Customs-business partnerships on 7 and 8 April.
The RTC is hosted by the School of Financial Administration in Brasilia. At the opening ceremony, Brazil’s Secretary of Federal Revenuel, Mr. Octacilio Cartaxo, announced that hosting the RTC symbolized that Brazil had moved from a student of the global Customs community to an active partner in the WCO, including its capacity building activities. Welcoming the undertaking by Brazil, Secretary General Mikuriya stated “I am pleased that the new RTC was established in a country where progress has been made in acceding to the Revised Kyoto Convention. Brazil has much to offer in sharing its experience in the Americas region through the use of the RTC. Moreover, the RTC provides a multi-lingual environment with Portuguese and Spanish on top of the WCO official languages, which is an asset not only for the Americas region, but also for the Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP). I hope to see much advancement in capacity building by the RTC in Brasilia, together with the RTC in Santo Domingo and the Regional Office for Capacity Building in Buenos Aires.”
The subsequent international seminar on Customs-business partnerships offered an excellent forum for the exchange of views between Customs and business in understanding each other and exploring mutual benefits. Secretary General Mikuriya made an opening speech by reviewing the topic from a broad perspective. Click here to view his presentation.
Secretary General Mikuriya took the opportunity to meet Brazil’s Minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, and discussed Brazil’s leading role in the region through modernizing its Customs procedures based on the Revised Kyoto Convention. Minister Mantega expressed his support for Customs and the increase in its human resources to improve border management. Mr. Mikuriya also met senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review a range of issues to enable Brazil to make a positive contribution at the WCO, including Brazil’s early accession to the Revised Kyoto Convention and enhancing the protection of IPR.
Interview with the Secretary General,
click here (
in Portuguese only)