Vietnam Customs participates in 29th Customs Directors General meeting

Attending the meeting were the General Directors of Customs of the 10 ASEAN member countries and the ASEAN Secretariat; Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO); Director of the Asia-Pacific Regional Capacity Building Office; representatives of Customs of partner countries including: Australia, China, Japan, Korea; ASEAN-BAC Business Advisory Council, Australian-ASEAN Business Council (A-ABC), European-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) and the US-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC).

Scene of the 29th Customs Directors General/Commissioners’ meeting from the Vietnam Customs side. Photo: Văn Tá

At the opening of the conference, Phoukhaokham-Vannavongxay, General Director of Laos Customs reviewed the results of ASEAN Customs cooperation in recent years and plans for the future. Phoukhaokham-Vannavongxay transferred the chairman of the conference to Kyaw Htin, General Director of Myanmar Customs.

Receiving the task of chairman of the 29th ASEAN Customs General Meeting, Kyaw Htin, General Director of Myanmar Customs congratulated the management of Laos Customs in recent years for the cooperation of ASEAN Customs; confirmed the results achieved in customs cooperation, the performance of Myanmar Customs in recent years and orientations in development priorities of Myanmar Customs during their working term.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, ASEAN held meetings with the aim of discussing measures to cope with the pandemic such as continuing to keep the ASEAN market open for trade and investment; ensuring the supply chain of goods, especially necessities and medical products: limiting imposition of unnecessary policies, strengthen regional and non-regional trade exchanges, study the signing of an agreement to maintain supply chain connectivity.

The general directors of customs of all countries also expressed efforts to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and emphasised the role of customs authorities of other countries in ensuring market openness and facilitation for transportation of goods.

Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh agreed with the contents of the conference. Photo: Văn Tá

Countries agreed to consistently apply the principles of free trade agreements as well as WCO principles and standards in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ensuring smooth flow of essential items such as food, goods, medicines and medical supplies, and ensure any existing restrictions and non-tariff barriers in customs are designed based on fairness, non-discrimination, transparency and compliance with WTO principles; strengthening dialogue with the private sector, making efforts to speed up cargo clearance and continuing to support enterprises, especially small and medium sized enterprises; promote information exchange on risky goods and implement measures to combat illegal trade of medical products and supplies; encourage the sharing of good practices, measures to minimise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, support SMEs and to strengthen public-private partnerships.

Raising the views of Vietnam Customs at the conference, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh agreed with the contents of the conference.

Thanh emphasised that Vietnam Customs would participate more actively in research groups to enhance sharing of experiences and learning successful models of countries in the field Vietnam Customs is interested in participating in.