RILO AP had a Regional Seminar with Member administrations in Asia-Pacific region via online platform Zoom on 11 November, 2021. 40 participants from 17 Member Administrations attended the regional seminar, who participated were Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), India, Japan, Korea, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The second regional seminar of this year was joined international organizations who were World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

The seminar opened by the opening remarks of Mr. YoungKyoung KIM, Deputy Head of RILO AP. Mr. Norikazu KURAMOTO, Head of ROCB A/P, delivered the welcoming address for the regional seminar, highlighting the cooperation with RILO AP for the member administrations in AP region. The seminar was consisted with presentations by international organizations and Philippine Customs and Q&A session.

On behalf of international organizations in partnership with RILO AP, the representatives of each organizations gave informative presentations including the latest trends by high-risk areas, major activities and plans based on the various perspectives. In the field of endangered wildlife, Mr. Brian V. Gonzales, Head of Protection of endangered species at WWF presented on ‘WWF and Traffic’s Compendium of Red Flag Indicators for wildlife and Timber Trafficking in Containerized Sea Cargo’. As for the environmental field, Ms. Amada Lilia Cabrejo Le Roux, Environmental Law Expert at UNEP delivered ‘Environmental Crime Global and Regional Trends and UNEP Related Initiatives’. In the field of narcotics, Mr. Fernando Romero Contreras, GRIDS IONICS Coordinator at the INCB, gave a presentation on ‘INCB Operational Initiatives to Counter Trafficking of NPS, Opioids and other Dangerous Substances’. And, Mr. Li Wai Sze, Project manager at RILO AP introduced ongoing projects such as project Crocodile, Sky-Hole-Patching and DSINS Air & Sea and their statistics of remarkable seizures and information exchange cases. Lastly, on behalf of Member administrations in Asia-Pacific, Mr. Ernesto T. Pracale, Jr., Executive Officer at Customs Anti-illegal Drugs Task Force (CAIDTF) of Philippines Bureau of Customs, shared ‘Interception and Apprehension of Illegal Drugs’ along with their noticeable seizure cases.

The seminar was a valuable opportunity for member administrations in charge of borders to improve enforcement efficiency for border security and raise awareness of the latest trends through experts from international organizations in various fields.