At the invitation of Turkish Customs, the WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, spoke at the opening of the First Online International Customs and Trade Conference held in Turkey on 20 May 2021. He described the response by Customs and the WCO to “Global Trade during and after Pandemic”, which formed the focus of discussions at the Conference.

In close cooperation between the WCO Secretariat and the Regional Office for Capacity Building for the World Customs Organization Europe Region (ROCB Europe), a National Workshop on Post Clearance Audit was held virtually from 26 to 30 April 2021 for the Republic of Kazakhstan as a part of the WCO capacity building delivery plan.

On 7 May 2021, the Embassy of Jamaica in Brussels and Mission to the European Union deposited with the World Customs Organization (WCO) the country’s Instrument of Accession to the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (Revised Kyoto Convention - RKC), making Jamaica the 128th Contracting Party to this Convention.

One of the latest projects of the ROCB Europe is “ROCB Europe Analytics”, a database which includes substantial information about customs, trade and economy as well as indices encompassing that has developed and designed by ROCB Europe. The virtual launch event is intended to inform all the Members in the WCO Europe Region and stakeholders about the new tool.

The 5th WCO Global AEO Conference will be held virtually in collaboration with Dubai Customs / Federal Customs Authority, United Arab Emirates, from 25 to 27 May 2021.

From 05 to 7 May 2021, online training on «Prevention of Illegal Movement of Cultural Property through the State Border of Ukraine» with the assistance of Ms. Mariya Polner, Senior Policy Advisor, Programme Lead – Cultural Heritage, Enforcement and Compliance SubDirectorate, WCO, was conducted on the basis of the Department for Specialized Training and Canine Services of the State Customs Service.

The European Commission has published materials for an information campaign related to the application of the new Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, which refers to the application of the new rules on cash control, which will be fully applied from 3 June 2021 in the Member States.

On April 30, Calais customs officials seized 3.5 tonnes of cigarettes. Customs officers discovered a load consisting of 30 pallets of cardboard boxes, of which, apart from the first three pallets, contained cartons of JPS brand cigarettes.

During the first Turkish-Sweden Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting, held online, top officials from both countries spoke on bilateral commercial ties and relations with the EU, in particular updating the Turkey-EU Customs Union as well as the EU's Green Deal.

Azerbaijan Customs continues its operations in order to prevent illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances going through the territory of the country, determine and hold accountable persons involved in the transnational crimes and find out their relations with other members of organized criminal groups operating in different countries.

On 20 April 2020, an online event has been held to acknowledge the completion of the deployment of the WCO Cargo Targeting System (CTS) to the State Customs Committee (SCC), Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the latest of a growing number of countries to implement the WCO CTS to enhance their cargo risk assessment and targeting capability.

Brest customs officers in Belarus stopped an attempt to illegally move 500 bits, recognized by experts as cold weapons, to the territory of the EEU.