In his capacity as the Secretary General of the Conference of Directors General of Customs of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), Francisco Curinha, Director of Cooperation and Institutional Relations at the Portuguese Customs administration, visited the Secretary General of the WCO, Kunio Mikuriya, on 27 February 2013 to discuss ongoing cooperation between the WCO and the CPLP.

Secretary General Curinha welcomed the increased availability of WCO tools and documents in Portuguese and particularly the ongoing opportunity, under the WCO Career Development Programme, for a Professional Associate from the CPLP to work at the WCO Secretariat and serve as a useful link between the WCO and its eight Portuguese-speaking Members, namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste.

The Secretary General of the WCO expressed his appreciation for the work of the CPLP and looked forward to continued cooperation with the Community and its Members. Secretary General Curinha also took the opportunity to present Secretary General Mikuriya with a book entitled "Stories of Customs Cooperation in the CPLP", written by João de Sousa, former Director General of Portuguese Customs.