At the invitation of the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, the WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited the CARICOM Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana on 20 March 2018 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations.

This MOU formalizes relations between the two organizations which have already been cooperating with one another for years.  CARICOM is keen to harmonize Customs’ procedures among its 15 Members to facilitate trade and to protect its citizens from illicit trade.  With its strategy to enhance collaboration with economic communities, particularly when it comes to promoting regional integration, WCO is a natural CARICOM partner. 

At the signing ceremony Ambassador LaRoque stressed the importance of the benefits of this partnership in harmonizing Customs’ procedures through human resource development, and called on the five non-WCO CARICOM Members to join the WCO as their membership would bring concrete benefits.  

Dr. Mikuriya, in turn, emphasized the importance of implementing WCO standards to simplify and harmonize Customs’ procedures while protecting society from illicit trade and security concerns and called on CARICOM Members who were also Members of the WCO to ratify the WCO's Harmonized System Convention as well as its Revised Kyoto Convention.

After the ceremony both Secretaries General had a meeting to discuss the way forward, particularly focusing on the identification of priority areas and the development of a detailed plan for future cooperation to actualize the MOU