Vietnam- Belarus Customs strengthen cooperation in information exchange in the Customs field

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The high-level talk. Photo: H.N

Vietnam Customs delegation was headed by the Director General of Vietnam Customs, Nguyen Van Can, and the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus headed by Chairman Yury Senko Alekseevich. Also, Mr. Vladimir Goshin, Ambassador of Republic of Belarus to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam took part in the event.

At the meeting, the Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can congratulated Chairman of State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus, Yury Senko Alekseevich, and the high ranking delegation of Belarus Customs for visiting and working with Vietnam Customs.

The Director General, Nguyen Van Can, emphasized that although Vietnam and Belarus are geographically far apart, they have a close relationship due to the inherited traditional cooperation of the former Soviet Union. Thousands of Vietnamese studied and lived in Belarus in the 1980s and they still have strong attachment with the Belarus’s culture.

2017 is the 25th anniversary of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the two countries. The cooperation has been expanded in many fields, including Customs. The signing Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Belarus on Mutual Administrative Assistance in the Customs field in 2018 is an important milestone.

From the that time to the present day, although the cooperation between the two Customs agencies is still at modest level, the sharp increase of global trade volumes and the risk of traditional fraud and non-traditional trade in the Customs field have required the cooperation of Customs agencies. Especially with Customs cooperation in the information exchange and intelligence information to maintain a balance between the facilitation for the legal trade with the task of ensuring security and State revenue.

The Customs has the responsibility of protection for economic security and law enforcement and control, as well as coordinating the operation of the other agencies at border gates. The two Customs agencies have many similar tasks and have many experiences to share together, such as Customs control at land, rail and air borders.

The Director General Nguyen Van Can (right) and the Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus signed working report. Photo: H.N

In addition, in the context that the two countries are members of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and Eurasian Economic Union, the Vietnam Customs and the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus have important duties is to complete the negotiation of the Protocol on the e-Customs information exchange between the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the Central Customs authorities of the Eurasian Economic Union, and to implement other content related to the Customs field in the Agreement.

According to Mr. Yury Senko Alekseevich, Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus, although the two parties signed the Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance in the Customs field, the intelligent information on anti-smuggling of the two Customs agencies is still limited.

The Belarus Customs expected that the Customs agencies of the two countries need to closely coordinate and actively support each other in the investigation of Customs offences, especially the offences related to goods origin. The two parties need to sign the Protocol on e-Customs information exchange within the framework of the FTA between Vietnam and Eurasian Economic Union soon to facilitate trade for more development.

At the meeting, Director General Nguyen Van Can and Mr. Yury Senko Alekseevich were pleased to announce the results achieved by the two countries' Customs in all fields such as Customs reform and modernization, anti-smuggling and trade frauds.

The Director General Nguyen Van Can emphasized that Vietnam Customs performed two tasks that the World Customs Organization (WCO) focused on including: Trade facilitation and enhancement of security and safety control.

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Specifically, more than 99% of declarations were carried out via the e-Customs clearance system 24/7, meeting “anytime, anywhere” on the VNACCS/VCIS, 99% of declarations were electronically paid. Also, Vietnam Customs strongly applied the risk management in Customs operation (including: 65% of Green Channel declaration, 35% of Yellow Channel and 5% of Red Channel declaration).

Closing the talk, Director General Nguyen Van Can and Mr. Yury Senko Alekseevich signed the working report.

After the talks, the two countries' Customs delegations visited the Online command center of Vietnam Customs.