On 4 and 5 February 2014, the WCO held an information workshop at WCO headquarters on Phase 3 of the Columbus Programme concerning such monitoring and evaluation missions in French-speaking Members. As one of the first French-speaking Members, Senegal has already applied for an assessment of its modernization programme.
Five (5) accredited experts for Phase 1 and/or 2 took part in this information workshop: two French experts, one Swiss expert, one expert from Niger and one expert from Côte d’Ivoire in addition to experts working at the WCO Secretariat.
The main issues discussed were:
- The WCO Strategic Plan and the four Packages (Revenue, Economic Competitiveness, Compliance and Enforcement, and Organizational Development);
- Overview of Phase 3 of the Columbus Programme and guidelines for experts in terms of assessing development progress;
- Presentation of Phase 3 missions already accomplished;
- Presentation of relevant WCO tools and instruments (TRS, RKC and assessment of its implementation);
- Group, followed by plenary, review of other tools and instruments likely to assist experts in their assessment tasks, such as the Guidelines for Post-Clearance Audit (PCA), SAFE-AEO and the WCO Customs Risk Management Compendium;
- Case study: preparation of the Phase 3 Columbus Programme mission to Senegal and pre-selection of the experts to undertake that mission.
Three (3) experts from France, Switzerland and Côte d’Ivoire were chosen for the forthcoming mission to Senegal (April-May). The other experts will be called upon to conduct similar missions for other French-speaking countries.