27 – 29 September 2022, Seoul, Korea

At the invitation of the of Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO A/P), Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of ROCB A/P participated in 33^rd Administrative Meeting for National Contact Points of Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO A/P NCP Meeting) which was held in hybrid mode on 27 – 29 September 2022. Program Manager of the ROCB A/P, Ms. Sherman Yu also joined the meeting to provide support.

At the meeting, Mr. Kuramoto delivered his opening remarks to recall how importance effective utilization of intelligence is in cooperation with key stakeholders namely Asia Pacific members, RILO A/P as well as its domestic enforcement administration. He also made presentation to introduce the ROCB A/P and provide an overview of the upcoming capacity building activities. He also introduced ROCB A/P’s publication and encouraged members to participate in capacity building activities organized by ROCB A/P in this fiscal year. Since both RILO A/P and ROCB A/P shouldered the role to coordinating and consolidating regional activities, Mr. Norikazu expressed wishes that both offices will continue to work hand in hand in future.

The meeting was chaired by RILO A/P and co-chaired by Korea Customs Service (KCS) as host administration. During the meeting, respective Customs administrations shared their best practices and cases studies in their daily operation. Case statistics, new initiatives and views on smuggling trend were shared and discussed during the presentations. Japan Customs also took the opportunity to share the preparation work for the transition of RILO A/P from KCS to Japan Customs from January 2024.

All participants agreed that closer cooperation and more intelligence exchange are vital to uphold the enforcement effort in the region.

 For more information, please write to us at rocb@rocbap.org