Address by the Director
Dear Colleagues,
Boundaries are not only the place where we can consider that our profession was born and still lives, but, as a famous Italian essayist and intellectual wrote: "Travelling doesn’t just mean crossing the other side of the border, but also discovering that one is always on the other side".
And this has constantly been my approach, moving to other countries for living and working on Customs cooperation activities and capacity building projects.
In the role of Head of ROCB Europe in Baku, as from the 31st of July 2023, I will do my best for working side by side with all the fifty-three member Customs administrations of the WCO Europe Region: a huge family indeed, with substantial technical and organisational differences and with their own agenda, their own plans and ambitions, but full of resources, human and technological, together with a wealth of experience, that we all together need to further improve and mutually exchange.
Using the capacity building as a leverage for removing all the technical and procedural obstacles that block, restrict or slow the movement of goods and people, we could help in creating and promoting a safer business environment, both in the interest of our own countries and of the international community.
That’s why, offering my personal energies to ROCB Europe to achieve so challenging goals couldn’t be enough. As a widely known business consultant said: “None of us is as smart as all of us”. So, I will be involving all of you, at various level, relying on your experience and on your energies as well.
I look forward to creating fruitful occasions for meeting and exchanging on shared topics along this common and fascinating journey.
With this in mind, I am glad to express my warmest wishes for success to all of you.
Antonio Lo Parco
Director
