22nd January 2025, Online Meeting

At the invitation of the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), ROCB A/P participated in an online meeting on 22nd January 2025. The primary objective of the meeting was to strengthen collaboration between the two organizations and align efforts to enhance customs capacity-building and trade facilitation across ASEAN members.

The ASEC delegation was led by Mr. Cuong Ba Tran, Head of the Trade Facilitation Division, while representing ROCB A/P were Mr. Jun Tajima, Head of ROCB A/P and Mr. Louis Chan, Program Manager.

Opening the session, Mr. Tajima highlighted ROCB A/P’s mission to support AMS through the implementation of WCO conventions, capacity-building initiatives, and promotion of international customs standards. He emphasized the importance of reducing duplication in technical assistance and ensuring alignment with ASEAN’s strategic priorities.

In response, Mr. Cuong Ba Tran shared ASEC’s capacity-building framework, which focuses on engaging dialogue partners—including Australia, Japan, China, and Korea—to provide targeted technical assistance. He also elaborated on the development of the new Strategic Plans of Customs Development for 2026-30 which would incorporate emerging issues, including circular economy, green customs, digitalization, e-commerce, and combating illicit trade. ASEC also presented the Joint Customs Control (JCC) mechanism as a successful initiative for addressing drug trafficking and illicit trade in the region.

Mr. Louis Chan provided an overview of ROCB A/P’s recent capacity-building activities and ongoing WCO initiatives. He discussed workshops conducted on risk management, intellectual property rights (IPR), and smart customs, as well as new initiatives such as the WCO’s Smart Customs project and the ICCWC’s efforts to combat wildlife crime. These efforts underscore the importance of sustainability and digital transformation in customs operations.

The meeting concluded with productive discussions on the need for closer coordination to streamline technical assistance and avoid redundancies, leveraging country coordinators for better alignment of requests with WCO activities. Both parties identified e-commerce fraud, trade facilitation in the digital age, and combating illicit trade as priority areas for enhanced collaboration, with ASEC expressing interest in inviting WCO experts to ASEAN Customs Coordination Working Group (CCWG) meetings for technical discussions. The meeting also explored potential support mechanisms for Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN, focusing on strengthening its customs administration and trade facilitation capabilities.

Concluding the session, Mr. Tajima expressed his appreciation for ASEC’s proactive engagement and insights. Both parties agreed to maintain open communication and hold similar discussions in the future to ensure continued alignment and cooperation.

For more information, please contact ROCB A/P at rocb@rocbap.org