At the invitation of Mr. Aydin Aliyev, Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya attended the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 7 September 2015.  The aim of this MOU is to certify the State Customs Committee’s Dog Training Centre as a WCO Regional Dog Training Centre (RDTC).

During his address at the inauguration ceremony for the RDTC, Mr. Mikuriya expressed his gratitude to Mr. Aydin Aliyev and his staff, as well as to the Delegations of Argentina, Austria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Uzbekistan, who came especially for this event.

A visit of the Dog Training Centre facilities was organized, followed by an overview of the work of the canine teams and their training. A live demonstration took place to show how dogs and handlers work together to detect drugs and explosives in luggage and vehicles or to immobilize offenders trying to escape from Customs.

From 7 to 11 September 2015, the State Customs Committee is also holding a detector dog competition for CIS member countries on WCO RDTC premises. This is an excellent example of activities organized by the Centre and of the ongoing monitoring system already in place.

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Photo captions:

(1)   Signature, on 7 September 2015, of an MOU between the WCO and the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan establishing a WCO RDTC in Baku.

(2)   During his speech, WCO Secretary General Mikuriya expressed his gratitude to Mr. Aydin Aliyev and his staff, as well as to the delegations who came especially for this event.  

(3)   Mr. Aydin Aliyev, Chairman of the State Customs Committee, giving his speech at the inauguration of the WCO RDTC.

(4) and (5)  Several delegations attended this inauguration ceremony and some of them are taking part in a dog training competition at the WCO RDTC.