The WCO organized an accreditation workshop for Expert Trainers (ET) on Customs valuation at the WCO Headquarter in Brussels from 4 to 8 April 2022. This workshop was organized in cooperation with the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) as part of the strategic approach taken by the WCO aiming at expanding the pool of WCO expert trainers on Customs valuation in order to respond to the needs expressed by the WCO members on these important subjects.

The workshop was attended by thirteen participants invited from the five Southern Africa members, namely Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Those participants are part of the "Master Trainer Program" on Customs Valuation conducted jointly by the WCO and JICA to develop more sustainable and self-contained training capacity in Southern Africa that took place from October 2018 to June 2021. The participants took part in a series of training activities jointly conducted by the WCO and JICA to become quality trainers and are now actively contributing to the delivery of training on Customs valuation in Southern Africa. After their very remarkable achievements as Master Trainers, they were invited to participate in the WCO accreditation workshop and become an asset of the global Customs.

Throughout the workshop, all participants worked intensively and demonstrated their knowledge, skills, techniques and, most importantly, enthusiasm to contribute to the capacity building activities to be made by the WCO in the future. During the workshop, participants were also given an opportunity to pay a courtesy call to the Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya. The Secretary General welcomed the participants, acknowledging their contribution as trainers in their region and expressed his expectation that they will further contribute to sustainable training delivery in Southern Africa. He further encouraged them to become global assets as WCO Expert Trainers and contribute to the capacity building activities to be conducted by the WCO all over the world.  In addition, participants received strong encouragements from the Director of Capacity Building Directorate, Mr. Taeil Kang, at the opening session and from the Director of Tariff and Trade Directorate, Mr. Konstantinos Kaiopoulos, at the closing session.

Successful participants to the workshop will be invited to the next stage of the WCO expert accreditation process, an in-field mission with a WCO lead expert. It is expected that those participants who successfully complete the accreditation process will be added to the expert pool and work together with the WCO for the benefit of Members who require support from the WCO for the improvement of their Customs valuation capacity.

For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.