Enhance multilateral diplomacy of Vietnam Customs

According to the rotation mechanism and decided by the 32nd ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting (2023), Vietnam Customs to host the 33rd ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting, can you tell us the scale and importance of this conference?

Director General Nguyen Van Can:

The 33rd ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting will be held from 4 to 6 June 2024 in Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. Attending this event were about 100 delegates from 10 Customs delegations of ASEAN countries headed by General Directors; ASEAN Secretariat; leaders of Customs agencies of partner countries and international organizations including the World Customs Organization (WCO), Australian Customs and Border Protection, China Customs, South Korea Customs, Japan Customs and representatives of private sector including ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC), US-ASEAN Business Council and EU-ASEAN Business Council.

By hosting the most important meeting of ASEAN Customs, Vietnam has shown itself to be a responsible member and fulfill its obligations in the ASEAN region. Thereby, enhancing the position and role of Vietnam Customs, strictly implementing the policy of actively participating and promoting Vietnam's role in multilateral mechanisms, including ASEAN.

Vietnam Customs chose Phu Quoc City as the venue for this conference and believed that this was a good opportunity to promote the unique image of the country, people and culture of Vietnam, bringing a unique experience of natural beauty, history and culture rich in national identity. From there, Vietnam wish to bring the message of a safe and friendly development to friends in the region and the world.

How does hosting the event affirm the role of Vietnam Customs in the region, Director General?

Director General Nguyen Van Can:

Since Vietnam became a member of ASEAN, Vietnam Customs has successfully hosted three meetings of ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting in Vietnam in 1995, 2004 and 2014 respectively. Therefore, Vietnam Customs has made more efforts to successfully organize the 2024 conference and meetings of the Customs Coordination Committee (CCC), Technical Working Groups during the term of President of Vietnam Customs from June 2024 to June 2025, contributing to enhancing Vietnam's position and image in the eyes of international friends.

The organization of the conference aims to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities of Customs authorities of member countries in the ASEAN region. At the same time, raising the position and role of Vietnam Customs and in line with the general policy on raising the level of multilateral dialogue of Vietnam in general and of Vietnam Customs in particular.

Not only successfully hosting ASEAN Customs General Directors' Meetings, Vietnam Customs has also successfully organized several international events such as ASEM Customs Directors-General Meeting in Quang Ninh in 2019 and WCO Technology Conference and Exhibition in Hanoi in 2023, highly appreciated by international friends; demonstrating the pioneering, active and responsible role of Vietnam Customs in multilateral and bilateral cooperation. Affirming the role of Vietnam Customs as a member unit that always complies with WCO regulations, actively contributing to many important forums in ASEAN and the world.

Can you share what the 33rd ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting will cover?

Director General Nguyen Van Can:

The new stage of development with the official establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 has set new requirements for customs authorities in the region to accelerate the reform, modernization and application of international standards and best practices, as well as applying the achievements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 to business processes and customs management.

In addition, in the face of complicated developments of the world economic and political situation as well as the decline of the multilateral trading system, trade wars or the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, are facing common challenges in economic cooperation, trade exchanges.

To realize ASEAN's vision of "One Region of Development and Prosperity for All People", "One ASEAN- One Identity- One Vision"; The development and development of a framework to deepen cooperation in the field of customs in the ASEAN region is becoming increasingly important.

With the requirements set, this ASEAN Customs General Directors' Meeting will decide on the direction of customs cooperation in the coming time, especially the orientation for the Strategic Plan for Customs Development in the period 2026-2030, as well as the direction to continue implementing the ASEAN Tariff List; ASEAN Single Window, the ASEAN Customs Transit System, the ASEAN Priority Enterprise Mutual Recognition Agreement and ASEAN's joint campaigns and initiatives to combat smuggling and trade fraud.

In addition, consultation mechanisms with partners and the private sector help ASEAN Customs find appropriate support resources to implement ASEAN Customs initiatives; in order to realize the goals suitable to the economic development situation in the new period such as Green Customs, building an ecosystem of customs data, customs modernization, electronic data exchange, customs management for e-commerce, simplifying customs procedures for low-value shipments...

Is this conference one of the good opportunities for Vietnam Customs to gain experience in successfully building a Smart Customs model? Could you please share more about this issue?

Director General Nguyen Van Can:

In the context of current technological development, Vietnam Customs is in the process of implementing the Customs Development Strategy to 2030 to build Digital Customs and Smart Customs model.

The conference held in Vietnam is an opportunity for Vietnam Customs to cooperate, exchange and learn experiences of Customs of other countries in the region and partner countries. The experiences shared and introduced by Customs of other countries in the region and partner countries at the conference will also help Vietnam Customs have a suitable direction in the current trend of rapid technology development.

In particular, the conference is also an opportunity for Vietnam Customs to introduce the efforts to modernize and apply the technology of Vietnam Customs in implementing digital transformation contents, building Smart Customs, and and improving the image of Vietnam Customs.

Thank you!