The World Customs Organization (WCO) successfully conducted a regional workshop on integrity promotion for the WCO Asia Pacific (A/P) Region. The event was held at the WCO Regional Training Centre from 7 to 11 July 2023, in Melaka, Malaysia and supported by the Customs Cooperation Fund of China (CCF-China). Over twenty-five participants from different WCO A/P Region Member Customs Administrations participated in the event. 

Mr. Dato’ Haji Zazuli Bin Johan, Director General of the Royal Malaysian Customs, welcomed all the participants to the event. Among others, he expressed his vote of thanks to the WCO and CCF-China for organizing the event in Malaysia and took the opportunity to wish a successful workshop to the participants.

The workshop was formally opened by Honorable Datuk Seri Hj Ahmad Bin Maslan, Deputy Minister of Finance of Malaysia. At the outset, the Deputy Minister underscored the importance of maintaining a high level of integrity in Customs. In his view, integrity is a key value for Customs progress worldwide, and in the absence of this value, Customs Administrations are unable to exercise their functions efficiently and effectively.  He went on to highlight the need for Customs Administrations to continue adopting WCO standards in their efforts to promote integrity, including the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration (RAD).

During the workshop, the WCO presented the various instruments and tools designed to promote integrity in Customs and referred to the WCO RAD and the Integrity Development Guide, the two primary WCO integrity initiatives to address integrity problems in Customs. Furthermore, representing their respective countries, each participant delivered a presentation on the implementation of at least one key factor of the RAD from a national perspective, such as Leadership and Commitment, Regulatory Framework, Automation, Reform and Modernization and others.

It is important to highlight that integrity has been considered one of the key topics for the CCF-China. Participants had the opportunity to attend the workshop in the presence of Mr. Wu Ge, an official with a Director General-level position at the National Customs Administration of China. Throughout the workshop, while interacting with the participants, Mr. Ge shared relevant insights to further complement the WCO policy on integrity promotion.

For more information and support, please contact the Capacity Building Directorate at capacity.building@wcoomd.org.