The 59th French-speaking Fellowship Programme opened in Brussels on Monday, 21 January 2013 at the Headquarters of the WCO.

This Programme forms part of the work to develop the management capacities of WCO Members in support of Phase II of the WCO Columbus Programme.

It is designed to provide extremely promising young managers with training in supervisory and management techniques, so as to help them carry out reform and modernization within their respective administrations in a dynamic and sustainable manner.

This latest Programme brings together 14 participants who were welcomed by Kunio Mikuriya, the Secretary General of the WCO.

This introduction serves as a prelude to a series of conferences given by WCO experts, as well as to the seven-day Leadership and Management Development Course, facilitated by three experts from Canada and France.

The Fellows also benefited from a round-table discussion with the Secretary General during their first day at the WCO Secretariat.

They will remain at WCO Headquarters until 15 February 2013 in order to prepare an in-depth study on a subject of their choice, under the supervision of a Secretariat tutor, and to make recommendations to their respective administrations for possible subsequent implementation.

Participants will finally spend a fortnight in one of the Programme’s partner administrations – Belgium, Canada, France, Japan and Switzerland – to round off their study trip.

The French-speaking Fellowship Programme is funded by the Customs Administrations of Japan, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and the WCO.

List of countries participating in the 59th Fellowship Programme: Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Senegal.