Customs Directors General of the Americas and Caribbean pledged support to strengthen the ROCB-Uruguay Contact Point network

Fecha: 18/06/2019

On April 29 and 30, the XXII Conference of Customs Director General of the Americas and Caribbean (CCDGA) was held in Asunción, Paraguay. Among the most important resolutions endorsed, it is worth noticing the commitment made to support and endorse the strategic guidelines developed by the Capacity Building Contact Point Network for the AMS Region.

The Directors General of the Americas and Caribbean region committed to support and maintain a formal network of Capacity Building Contact Points, whose main task is to be the link between their Customs Administrations, the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB), the Regional Training Centers (RTCs), the Regional Vice-Chair, and the World Customs Organization (WCO), in regard to capacity building matters.

Likewise, they agreed to ensure the participation of their Contact Points in teleconferences, meetings and related activities.

Regarding the activities to be carried out by the Contact Point network, the Directors General agreed to support the leading role of this network in WCO activities, and to inform on the activities carried out by the development partners. They also agreed to monitor the commitment of their Customs Administrations with development partners.

The Directors General also pledged their Customs Administrations to participate and support the implementation of WCO regional strategies and development plans; to coordinate capacity building activities carried out by the ROCB, RTCs and WCO in their Administrations and to contribute to the preparation of the regional meeting of development partners.

On the other hand, Directors agreed that the Capacity Building Contact Point network manages and coordinates a list of accredited WCO experts at their Administrations, and that the Contact Point becomes the national coordinator (or works in cooperation with the national coordinator)  of the WCO online training platform (CliKC! Platform).

Contact Points will be in charge of sharing and promoting the use of WCO tools at their Administrations, and providing feedback to the ROCB and the WCO on their implementation; sharing best practices and information with other Contact Points on a regular basis, connecting experts from different Administrations through the Contact Point Network, and participating in group actitivites in order to advance in the different initiatives determined by the network.

Regional Conference of Customs Director General

This year, the subject for the XXII Regional Conference of Customs Directors General of the Americas and the Caribbean (CCDGA), was ‘Addressing common challenges to achieve regional success’. The opening ceremony was led by Mr. Enrique Ramirez Paniagua, Regional Vice-Chair of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO, Mr. Julio Fernández, Director General of Paraguay Customs, and Mr. Benigno López, Minister of Finance of Paraguay.

After the opening ceremony there was a panel discussion, called ‘Performance Measurement’, in which Mr. Enrique Canon was the moderator. In this panel, the existing methods and mechanisms for performance measurement were explored, and it concluded with a discussion with members on their priorities and needs. The panelists were Ms. Karolyn Salcedo from the WCO, Mr. Azael Pérez from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Mr. Marcus Vidal Pontes from Brazil’s Receita Federal.

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