The Global Meeting of the Regional Entities established by the WCO Members and the Council Vice-chairs’ Offices held its 17th Session on 17-18 February in a hybrid format enabling delegates who could not travel to participate remotely via an online platform.
The 17th Global Meeting was chaired by Mr. Larry Liza, Director of ROCB East and South Africa and was attended by over 140 delegates representing Vice-Chair offices (VCOs), Regional Offices for Capacity Building (ROCB), Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO), Regional Training Centers (RTC), Regional Dog Training Centers (RDTC), Regional Customs Laboratories (RCL) and host Administrations of regional entities.
During the course of interactive discussions over two days, the meeting addressed a range of issues of common interest, such as latest the development of tools that support strategic human resource management, including the WCO Guide to Managing Customs’ Human Capital through Crises and Beyond and the WCO Learning and Development Evaluation Tools. The participants also exchanged views and supported the recently developed WCO Middle Management Development (MMD) Training Programme.
Following the requests from the delegates to the previous Global Meeting, at the 17th Global Meeting, interested Regional Entities had an opportunity to share their experiences and good practices with other delegates.
The Global Meeting was also informed by the competent WCO Directorates and units about recent developments in their work areas, primarily focusing on areas that impact CB activities and the work of the regional entities.
The participants reconfirmed their willingness to work closely with each other to ensure strategic and cohesive functioning and carry out activities in supporting Members in their efforts in Customs reform and modernization.
In his speech, Mr. Eser ÇENGEL, Director of the ROCB Europe, spoke about the results of the 11th meeting of the WCO regional structures for the European region, which was held in Kyrgyzstan on October 11-16, 2021. He noted that at the meeting, representatives of Regional Training Centers evaluated their activities, exchanged views on the challenges they face, and as a result of discussions agreed to develop a joint action plan for the coming years. He also informed that at the initiative of the ROCB Europe, RTCs have identified areas of specialization and provided training support to each other on these topics. Mr. Eser ÇENGEL then spoke about the importance of increasing the number of meetings within the physical and working groups of RTCs, as well as the use of new technologies and systematization, and suggested that ROCBs be involved in the accreditation process of trainers by the WCO.
Mr. Mirhasan SEYIDZADE, Executive Officer at the ROCB Europe, made a presentation on ROCB Europe and its activities for 2021/2022. He mentioned that The ROCB Europe is functioning in the context of its Strategic Framework which is also in line with the WCO’s Strategic Plan as well as its regionalization approach. Mr. Seyidzade reported that in the period April 2021 / January 2022, the ROCB Europe involved a total of 24 events. He also stressed importance of new engagements that the ROCB Europe established with the UNODC, CARICC, NEA and OSCE to enhance ties and communication between the organizations and build cooperation to promote and carry out possible joint activities.
The Global Meeting elected Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Director of ROCB AP, as the Chairperson and Mr. Ulugbek Tadjiev from Uzbekistan Customs Service as the Vice-chairperson of the next 18th Global Meeting.
