Seventh CAREC Customs Cooperation Committee Meeting

The meeting reviewed progress made by the Customs Cooperation Committee (CCC) since its inception in 2002 and also the CAREC joint transport and trade facilitation strategy. The agenda focused on priority areas of customs cooperation under the CCC framework:

• rationalization and simplification of customs procedures, such as harmonization with international standards, joint customs control, and regional transit development;
• investments in information and communication technology (ICT), human resource capacity building, and data exchange; and
• critical operational customs issues for trade facilitation, such as risk management, post-entry audit, and customs intelligence and prevention of customs offences.

Strengthening of CCC’s implementation capability for achieving results was discussed. Best practices and lessons learned in adopting single-window systems, and country reports on progress made along the five priority areas of customs cooperation in 2007 were also presented.

A joint statement was produced summarizing the issues discussed and lessons learned by the CAREC participating countries. The statement also highlighted the progress and future work programs of the CCC.