30th January 2025, Bangkok, Thailand

Ms. Guusta Visser, Customs Attaché at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Singapore, paid a courtesy visit to ROCB A/P on 30th January 2025.

During the visit, Mr. Jun Tajima, Head of ROCB A/P, along with his colleagues, Mr. Louis Chan and Ms. Asuka Nagamatsu, extended a warm welcome to Ms. Visser and reaffirmed the strong cooperation between ROCB A/P and Dutch Customs in capacity-building efforts and advancing Customs modernization across the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Tajima provided an overview of ROCB A/P, emphasizing its role in supporting Asia-Pacific Members through capacity-building activities, especially the Annual Needs Survey, which is currently circulated to Members in A/P Region to identify Members' capacity-building needs. He also gave a brief summary of recent WCO’s capacity-building activities, including regional and national workshops on risk management, trade facilitation, and enforcement techniques, stressing the importance of such information exchange to avoid duplication of efforts and maximize impact.

Ms. Visser, who oversees customs collaboration in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, emphasized the Netherlands' commitment to fostering Customs modernization and enforcement cooperation across the region. She highlighted ongoing Netherlands’ bilateral collaborative initiatives, including AI-driven risk targeting, product passport development, and canine detection techniques.

The discussions focused on identifying opportunities for Netherlands’ bilateral collaborative initiatives and the need for enhancing coordination among Customs stakeholders to strengthen regional engagement and ensure the effective implementation of Customs modernization initiatives.

The visit concluded with a shared commitment to further strengthening cooperation between ROCB A/P and Dutch Customs. Both organizations expressed their willingness to the efficiency in the region through capacity building.

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