The World Customs Organization (WCO), with the support of integrity experts from Mauritius and Turkey Customs, has successfully completed an integrity development workshop for the benefit of the State Customs Committee of Uzbekistan. The workshop was delivered online over three days from 3-5 March 2021 with participation of approximately 50 Customs officers, which illustrates the importance that the Customs of Uzbekistan renders to integrity agenda. The mission was conducted with the financial support of USAID (Competitiveness, Trade and Jobs Activity in Central Asia).  

The objective of the mission was to support the Uzbekistan Customs in further improvement of integrity development strategies in Customs, meeting international commitments in the area of fighting corruption and raising awareness of the WCO tools and instruments on Customs integrity. During the 3-day workshop, participants were updated with the latest WCO tools, instruments and activities on integrity and fight against corruption in Customs. The workshop highlighted the importance of implementing the Revised Arusha Declaration on Good Governance and Integrity in Customs, containing 10 interrelated key factors, each of which is regarded as an essential component of a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy.

In addition, the workshop participants were updated with the latest anti-corruption trends, good integrity practices and received training on the following topics:  managing conflict of interest, corruption risk mapping and analysis, enhancing co-operation and information exchange between Customs and national anti-corruption authorities, transparency, code of conduct, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of internal affairs (control) function and other good practices.

The WCO looks forward to continuing its cooperation with the Uzbekistan Customs to further strengthen its integrity agenda. For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org, integrity@wcoomd.org.