The Deputy Secretary General of the WCO, Sergio Mujica, attended the International Air Transport Association's (IATA's) 7th World Cargo Symposium 2013 in Doha, Qatar from 12 to 14 March 2013. The event showcases the work of the airline industry's leading members along with their stakeholders in all parts of the air cargo supply chain, including government regulators and solution providers. The focus of the discussions was on the safety and security of the international air supply chain and the enabling roles played by technology and innovation. This year the event provided a full opening day plenary, followed by a number of parallel tracks on subsequent days.
During the opening day, the WCO Deputy Secretary General participated in a plenary panel addressing around 600 delegates on the topic "The Agenda for Sustainable Cargo", which echoed the overall symposium theme. Mr. Mujica spoke about the importance of a robust, simplified and harmonized regulatory framework having characteristics that would lead to a sustainable outcome. He added that the WCO's strategic endeavours were aligned with the idea and that its instruments, guidance material and other initiatives, such as the SAFE Framework and the Revised Kyoto Convention, had already shown their long term relevance in a constantly evolving cargo environment.
On Day 2, the Deputy Secretary General chaired the "Regulation" track that was built around the role of various civil aviation regulators, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the WCO and the universal Postal Union (UPU), as well as their national agencies. Approximately 90 delegates from industry and regulators themselves were in attendance to listen to presentations covering the WCO, ICAO and postal and other topics, such as the US Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) pilot and similar initiatives in the European Union.
During his mission to Qatar, Deputy Secretary General Mujica also visited the Qatar General Directorate of Customs and met with its Director General, Ahmed Bin Ali Almohannadi. The main topics discussed during the visit to Customs touched on the latest developments in the WCO and the various initiatives Qatar Customs is implementing to continue its modernization process, including the development of a Single Window.