As a follow-up to the WCO Secretary General’s visit to the Headquarters of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) in Bangui, Central African Republic late last year, a high-level CEMAC mission visited WCO Headquarters on 27 February 2013 to explore ways of further strengthening cooperation between the two Organizations.

Representing the six CEMAC Member countries, namely Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, the delegation was headed by Commissioner Pascal Youbi-Lagha (in charge of the CEMAC Common Market), and included the Acting Director of the Customs Union and the Director of the Inter-State Customs School (ISCS).

The Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya, welcomed the delegation and discussed several areas of cooperation, including the adaptation of the CEMAC Common External Tariff to the HS 2012 version,　the alignment of the CEMAC Customs Code on the Revised Kyoto Convention and other key instruments, and cooperation in respect of training between the Customs School and the WCO.

The CEMAC delegation held a series of working sessions with WCO experts.　It was agreed to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to further enhance cooperation between the two Organizations.