The WCO-Japan Career Development Programme (CDP) for 2022-2023 commenced on Thursday 15 September 2022. Ten Customs officials from Algeria, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, India, Mongolia, Saint-Lucia, Uganda and Uzbekistan have successfully started their term at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya welcomed the selected candidates to the WCO Secretariat and expressed his expectation that they will increase their knowledge, enhance their skills, gain international work experience and enrich their professional networks. He wished them every success in this important Programme.  

The WCO-Japan CDP was launched by the WCO in 2009 in cooperation with Japan Customs. It provides a unique opportunity for selected candidates from Customs administrations to work at the WCO Secretariat in a wide array of technical areas. 

The Programme aims at enabling participants to obtain knowledge, skills and international work experience; developing and enhancing networks between WCO Members and the WCO Secretariat; supporting and assisting the WCO Secretariat in its mission and work; and developing a pool of highly competent Customs experts in WCO Member administrations.  The Programme has served to promote the participation of WCO Members in various WCO activities, particularly in Arabic, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish speaking countries where neither of the two official WCO languages is widely spoken.