Ms. Therese Mattsson, Director General of Swedish Customs, together with the Swedish Customs management team, met with WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya on 17 November 2015.

They discussed a wide range of issues of strategic importance to the global Customs community and the WCO, including the importance of enhanced co-operation with other government agencies, and of securing support from the trading community in order to increase Customs’ ability to protect society against terrorism and other threats.

The Secretary General explained the importance of communication between Customs administrations, adding that this is also reflected in the WCO’s theme for 2016, namely “Digital Customs - Progressive engagement”, since ICT is crucial to timely communication and exchange of information. He further expressed the Organization’s appreciation for the significant support received from Sweden for WCO programmes and initiatives in a number of areas of work, including trade facilitation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The delegation was also updated on recent developments in respect of key issues in the areas of enforcement and TFA implementation. The opportunity to receive these updates and to share thoughts on future developments for Customs was highly appreciated by the delegation.