The World Customs Organization (WCO) Asia/Pacific Conference of Heads of Customs Administrations was completed successfully.

At the invitation of Michael Outram, Commissioner of the Australian Border Force (ABF), Commissioner-General of Customs, and Deputy Director of the WCO Asia/Pacific (A/P) Region, Ian Saunders, Secretary-General of the World Customs Organization, will meet in Sydney, Australia, between 14 and 18 April 2024. He attended the 25th WCO Asia-Pacific Conference of Heads of Customs Administrations.

The A-P Vice President warmly welcomed participants to the conference and hailed Palau as the region's newest WCO member. While highlighting the main priorities for customs in the Asia-Pacific region, Outram drew attention to this year's theme, "Customs Establishing Purposeful Relationships with Traditional and New Partners," and the importance of international supply chain flexibility in this context.

In his opening speech and report, Secretary General Saunders summarized some of the WCO's recent vital activities, including updates on progress in implementing the organization's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. He continued to present progress in developing the WCO's modernization plan and listened carefully to members' views. During his visit, the Secretary-General also held several bilateral meetings with members of the region.

Heads of Customs Administrations also note the status of implementation of the 'Regional Strategic Plan' as well as the activity reports of the Vice-President and the Asia-Pacific regional bodies such as the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB), the WCO Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) and the Regional Private Sector Advisory Group. They approved the new regional strategic plan for 2024-2026. In this context, the effort to align the commitments of the Asia-Pacific region with the WCO Strategic Plan was satisfactory.

The Conference supported the draft WCO resolution on "Strengthening Customs-Industry Resilience" and approved the WCO A-P Gender Equality and Diversity Communication. The Conference also decided to establish a WCO Regional Training Center in Cambodia and add a third Customs Training Center to the existing Regional Training Center in India.

The Conference concluded successfully, advancing many regional initiatives and providing a valuable opportunity for interaction between members and the general secretary ahead of this year's council meeting.