The World Customs Organization (WCO) launched this Tuesday (08.02.2022) a two-day virtual workshop on the Global Trade Facilitation Program for beneficiary countries, reported the Regional Vice Presidency for the Americas and the Caribbean on its Twitter profile.
This program, Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the WCO, contributes to promoting and facilitating international trade by strengthening compliance management through international standards and best practices in the import, export and transit of commercial goods.
For this purpose, the beneficiary countries, i.e., Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Guatemala attended the workshop on trade facilitation and organizational development. On this occasion, WCO experts will carry out an analysis of the processes and procedures used by the beneficiary customs administrations and assess their compliance with the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement in order to design a technical assistance plan according to the needs. In addition to the scheduled technical activities, the event includes a Panel discussion on the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in the implementation of strategic planning.
In the introductory words, the Vice President of the WCO for the Americas and the Caribbean, Werner Ovalle, he said: "My role as Regional Vice President is to publicize best practices, share international modernization processes, supporting efforts at a national level, under a regional approach, following the guidelines determined by the WCO.”
In this regard, the Vice President of the WCO and Guatemalan Customs Superintendent shares his country's experience in strategic planning for accession to the Revised Kyoto Convention, given that it has successfully achieved a path towards modern, efficient and predictable customs procedures; culminating its intervention in the Global Trade Facilitation Program on January 25. In this regard, Ovalle emphasized that the Revised Kyoto Convention "It provides guidance on where administrations should go, as well as indicating the best international practices in terms of customs control and trade facilitation."
The activity will help senior Customs managers become familiar with methodologies to strengthen their internal capacity in order to develop solid strategic plans and expand support for the modernization process. Among the various attendees are: the Executive President of the Bolivian National Customs Office, Karina Serrudo; the Deputy National Superintendent of Customs of Peru, Marilú Llerena Aybar; and the National Director of Customs of Colombia, Ingrid Díaz. SECO was represented by Mauricio Chiaravalli.
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