8 June 2022, hybrid mode, Singapore

At the invitation of the ASEAN Secretariat, Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of the ROCB A/P attended the 11th ASEAN – Word Customs Organization (WCO) Consultation at the 31st Meeting of the ASEAN Directors- General of Customs held on 8 June 2021 in Singapore in person. This meeting was convened in hybrid mode, i.e face-to-face and online. Ms. Sherman YU, Program Manager of the ROCB A/P attended the meeting virtually.

In the opening remarks, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, the Secretary General of WCO briefly explained the latest hot topics of WCO, such as Digitalization and Green Customs, as well as the importance of resilience efforts from pandemic of Member countries. Dr. Mikuriya also took the opportunity to express his appreciation to the most current developments, priority programmes and the strategic directions done by ASEAN Members as well as to explain the WCO’s application for mining the seize and offence data used in national Customs called nCEN in which ASEAN members have expressed interest.

During the meeting, Mr. Kuramoto introduced the capacity building activities of the ROCB AP including cooperation with Regional Entities in AP region as well as the forthcoming workshop plan to the ASEAN Members. Dr. Mikuriya then delivered closing remarks to conclude this session. He thanked ASEAN countries for their ongoing support to the WCO and will look forward more capacity building activities to be organized in the region.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ho Chee Pong, Director-General of Singapore Customs and co-chaired by Mr. Rey Leonardo B Guerrero, Commissioner of Philippines Customs. This meeting provided a platform to exchange views on international and emerging Customs issues.