Americas and Caribbean Regional Meeting

Antigua (Guatemala), 24-25 May 2010

Report

At the invitation of Guatemala Customs, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya participated in the Heads of Customs Meeting of the Americas and Caribbean Region.

Delegates were welcomed by Rudy Villeda, the Head of the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (Guatemala’s revenue authority), and the meeting was chaired by the Vice Chair of the WCO Americas and Caribbean region, Silvina Tirabassi of Argentine Customs.

After progress reports by the Vice Chair and the Secretary General, Heads of Customs discussed the following topical issues: Globally Networked Customs; Risk Management; and the Customs-Business Partnership. They also focused on accessions to the WCO revised Kyoto Convention, and reviewed progress in capacity building.

The meeting elected Guatemala’s Head of Customs, Raul Diaz, as the next Vice Chair for the region. Appreciating the excellent work done by Silvina Tirabassi during her term as Vice Chair for the region, participants welcomed Guatemala as the first Vice Chair from Central America.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Secretary General Mikuriya stated that this conference in Guatemala completed his participation in all six regional meetings where he had learnt about the progress and challenges of each WCO region, which would be reflected in next year's WCO activity plan. He said that he looked forward to welcoming all Heads of Customs in June 2010 to the annual Council Sessions and the Risk Management Forum directly thereafter.

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