The World Customs Organization (WCO), an independent intergovernmental body, approved the Declaration on Gender Equality and Diversity and a variety of technical topics for the efficiency of administrations, within the framework of the meeting of the Customs Cooperation Council, reported the Vice Presidency of the Americas and the Caribbean of the organization, represented by Werner Ovalle, current Vice President and Superintendent of Customs of Guatemala.
The official communication details that during the Council meeting, the last of the year, the aforementioned was approved Declaration on gender equality and diversity in customs, on efforts to make customs administrations more inclusive. The Declaration contains eight action points, the implementation of which will enable administrations to achieve better results in this area. In addition, a technical group was formed, comprising: Tayra Barsallo, Director General of the National Customs Authority of Panama (Central America Sub-region); Marilú Haydeé Llerena Aybar, Superintendent of Customs of Peru (South America Sub-region) and Velma Ricketts Walker, Director of Customs of Jamaica (Caribbean Sub-region).
Likewise, the Litigation, Arbitration of the Customs Cooperation Council on the Role of Customs in Facilitation of Cross-Border Movement of Medicines and Vaccines to address Covid-19.
The information indicates that during the development of the aforementioned meeting, official notice was given of the recognition as Laboratory Regional Customs to the Central Laboratory of Peru.
During the session two events were held elections important. Konstantinos Kaiopoulos of Greece was elected Director for Tariff and Trade Affairs and will take up his post on 1 January 2021. Ahmed Al Khalifa, Chairman of Customs Affairs of Bahrain, was elected Chairman of the Council for the period from December 2020 to June 2021.
Amongst the documents The approved reports included audit and finance reports, technical aspects related to free zones, the Counterfeiting and Piracy Group, the electronic commerce package, the group of technical experts on air cargo security, the working group on passenger facilitation and control, the role of customs in limiting the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the handling of dangerous goods, among other topics.
Other topics discussed included progress in the organization's various areas of work over the past few months and the path forward, taking advantage of what has been learned during the crisis generated by the pandemic.
The World Customs Organization is managed by the Council and the Policy Committee with the aim of increasing the efficiency of customs administrations. The theme chosen by the WCO for 2021 is: “Customs strengthening recovery, renewal and resilience for a sustainable supply chain”.
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