28^th October 2024, Bangkok, Thailand

A team of consultants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) paid a courtesy visit to ROCB A/P on 28^th October 2024.

During the visit, Mr. Jun Tajima, Head of the ROCB A/P, extended a warm welcome to the JICA consultant team. The visit served to reaffirm the strong partnership between ROCB A/P and JICA, emphasizing their shared commitment to enhancing customs efficiency and coordination through capacity building activities.

The discussions during the visit centered around JICA’s ongoing project, namely,  "The Project for Strengthening Customs Efficiency for Enhancing Mekong Connectivity," which commenced in August 2024. The goal of the project aims to improve customs coordination and trade facilitation across Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos through capacity building activities. The JICA team provided an overview of the project's detailed planning phase, which includes baseline surveys and reviews of existing frameworks, leading up to a comprehensive implementation phase set to begin in March 2025. Key outputs of the project include enhanced trade facilitation capacity, improved Authorized Economic Operator program, and strengthened human resource development capacity in customs administration.

Mr. Tajima shared insights into ROCB A/P’s role in serving the Asia-Pacific region through implementing WCO conventions, fostering partnerships, and advancing capacity-building. He outlined the 2024-26 regional strategic plan, emphasizing trade facilitation, compliance, capacity building, and resilience, with objectives for resource deployment and support for small island economies. He highlighted the Training Management Project aimed at enhancing human resource development in customs training management, with sub-regional workshops for ASEAN, South, East, and West Asia, and the Master Trainer Program for the Pacific Islands demonstrating ROCB A/P’s commitment to enhance training management system in the region. Mr. Tajima also emphasized the value of accredited experts and explored collaboration opportunities for local capacity building. Additionally, he introduced the CLIKC! platform, a WCO e-learning tool that strengthens customs capabilities in areas like the Time Release Study, which ROCB A/P actively promotes for regional development. During the meeting, Mr. Louis Chan, Program Manager of ROCB A/P, also highlighted capacity building activities conducted in the previous fiscal year for Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, tailored to each country’s assessed technical assistance needs.

The visit resulted in productive discussions, emphasizing the importance of close cooperation between JICA and ROCB A/P in advancing customs efficiency through capacity building. Both parties expressed their readiness to maintain open communication and work together towards achieving the project’s goals.

For more information, please contact ROCB A/P at rocb@rocbap.org