Vietnam Customs attended the 243/244th Meeting of the WCO Standing Technical Committee

Representing Vietnam Customs to attend the meeting were Mr. Hoang Dinh Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation (as head of the delegation); Ms. Nguyen Thi Vinh Hoai, First Secretary, representing Vietnam Customs in Belgium; Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Que, Head of Department of Customs Supervision and Management; Ms. Phan Thi Thu Trang, civil servant of the Department of International Cooperation.

According to Mr. Hoang Dinh Trung, the PTC meeting is an important regular meeting of the WCO with a comprehensive nature of procedural issues and trade facilitation; implementation and review of international conventions, the WTO TFA Agreement, standard frameworks, tools and guidelines of the WCO; Emerging issues are of concern to Customs authorities of different countries.

In addition, the contents approved at the PTC will be reported to the Policy Committee and to the Directors General at the Council meeting in June every year.

With the WCO’s 2024 theme being “Customs agencies proactively cooperate with traditional and new partners”, delegates attending the session focused on discussing potential areas of cooperation. between WCO and partners.

The meeting heard reports of the Management Committees of the Kyoto Convention, ATA Convention, Istanbul Convention, Global Security Standards and Trade Facilitation (SAFE Framework), working groups, projects… belongs to PTC; discuss and provide guidance on building and updating tools in the fields of customs operations within the scope of PTC.

The session also discussed emerging areas including Digital Customs. Specifically, identification codes, research documents on the application of blockchain technology in Customs operations, Smart Customs projects, research on WCO’s Data Strategy, Single Mechanism ports, transit, e-commerce, amendments to documents guiding cooperation between Customs and Port Management Authorities, implementation of the TFA Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which includes the content of cooperate with WTO and partners; Green Customs; strengthen sustainable cooperation between customs and the private sector; survey customs clearance time; passenger facilitation and control; Discuss new terms in the customs field.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Vinh Hoai, First Secretary, representative of Vietnam Customs at WCO spoke at the 243/244th Meeting of the PTC. Photo: Thu Trang

At the same time, the meeting reviewed and approved the updated contents of the Work Plan for the period 2022-2025 and the contents discussed at the next meeting.

Mr. Hoang Dinh Trung shared that the content at the meeting and important issues are of concern to Vietnam Customs such as Digital Customs, smart Customs model, e-commerce and procedural issues. custom. In particular, this session also conducted elections for the positions of PTC Chairman and Vice Chairman. Accordingly, it is expected to propose the representative of Vietnam Customs at the WCO to be the Chairman.