The 21th RHCA conference and the 30th RCP meeting
12 Nov 2020 |
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The World Customs Organization Asia/Pacific Joint Session of 21th
Regional Heads of Customs Administrative Conference (RHCA) and 30th Regional
Contact Points (RCP) Meeting was held in Indonesia via video conference on 12th
2020. Indonesia organized
this conference as the Vice-Chair Asia Pacific for the 2020 – 2022 periods. The
conference was held in two sessions, the first session was RHCA, and the second
one was RCP. Customs delegations from the Asia Pacific Region participated in
the conference and senior officials of the WCO and its Regional Bodies, the
Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB), and Regional Intelligence Liaison
Office (RILO). The conference
began with a welcome remark by Mr. Heru Pambudi, Director General of Customs
and Excise of the Republic of Indonesia and chairperson of this year’s
conference. He highlighted the need to develop close cooperation in the region
to take measures in response to the COVID-19 and to reach regional goals. Mr.
Kunio Mikuriya, the Secretary-General of WCO, attended the conference and delivered
the WCO policy and initiatives. He also emphasized the critical importance of an
active role in WCO operations amid the pandemic. During the
first session, the head of RILO presented the progress report detailing the
history, membership, and, mainly, activities of RILO, which made efforts on how
to coordinate effectively joint enforcement operations about combating against
illicit trade of drugs and hazardous waste, etc. During the conference, he introduced
a new joint enforcement operation targeting illicit drugs on the global level as
planned early next year. He asked for active participation and collaborations
from member administrations. From the
second session, the Regional Contact Point (RCP) meeting was held, an annual
meeting for the joint response to regional development and issues linked to the
international trade procedures and cross border security.
The joint session was updated on the progress report, the result of the implementation of the 2018-2020 Plan and the new 2020-2022 Regional Strategic Plan. During the session, participants endorsed several decisions on important issues and shared opinions on how to response to combating COVID-19. Above all, participants agreed on strengthening Customs enforcement collaboration keenly needed in unprecedented circumstances.
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