The World Customs Organization, under the sponsorship of the Government of Finland, organized a two-day National Policy Dialogue, in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was held on the 18th and 19th of March 2013. This top level event was part of the ongoing implementation of the WCO Capacity Building Strategy under the project entitled "Building Trade Capacity through Customs Modernization in the East and Southern Africa Region".

The 1st day of the programme involved CEOs and senior managers of private sector companies and organisations while the 2nd day of the event had top management participation of Government Ministries and Agencies involved in Import and Export operations.

The dialogue provided an opportunity for the business fraternity to raise important issues affecting trade facilitation in Kenya while Government Ministries and Agencies were afforded case studies of successful cooperation between Government Agencies at border entry points. Many positive comments were received after the event with most participants stating that such forums needed to be held more frequently.

The programme was facilitated by the Director of the Capacity Building Directorate Mr. Erick Kieck and Mr. Mika Poutiainen of Finnish Customs while the Host was the Commissioner of Kenya Customs, Ms. Beatrice Memo.

The event was organised by the Project Manager Ms. Riitta Passi.