At the invitation of the OECD, the WCO participated in the plenary meeting of the Anti-Corruption Network (ACN) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the OECD held from 3 – 5 July 2018 in Paris at its Headquarters.
The ACN for Eastern Europe and Central Asia is a regional anti-corruption programme established under the OECD’s Working Group on Bribery. The programme supports beneficiary countries by providing a regional forum for promotion of anti-corruption activities, exchange of information, elaboration of best practices and donor coordination. It also includes a peer review monitoring mechanism on implementation of the Istanbul Anti-corruption Action Plan.
The WCO was invited to share its expertise and technical knowledge in the thematic area of Customs particularly when Customs administrations are evaluated.
During the meeting, the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan Fourth Round Monitoring reports on Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine and progress reports on Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan were discussed and considered. The 19th Istanbul Anti-corruption Action Plan Monitoring meeting was attended and contributed by the OECD Deputy Secretary General Mr. Masamichi Kono and the meeting was chaired by Ms. Enery Quinones, Chair of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
In the framework of the plenary meeting, the WCO Capacity building Deputy Director Ms. Brenda Mundia participated in the 23rd ACN Steering Group Meeting and provided an update on the WCO’s current activities, future work and technical support in Anti-corruption and Integrity development that WCO delivered for its Member administrations including beneficiary countries of the ACN.
At the margins of the meeting, the WCO and the OECD discussed the status of ongoing cooperation and planned joint projects in the area of Integrity and anti-corruption based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two organizations in 2016 and agreed to take the joint work forward.