The 13^th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Customs Directors-General and Commissioners Meeting is scheduled to take place in Ha Long city in northeastern Quang Ninh province from October 9-10.

Deputy General Director of the General Department of Viet Nam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh (C) at the press briefing (Photo: VNA)

The information was revealed by Deputy General Director of the General Department of Viet Nam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh at a press briefing in Ha Noi on October 3.

The meeting aims to fulfill Viet Nam’s membership obligations within the framework of ASEM, Thanh said.

It is expected to witness the participation of 53 delegations led by directors-general and commissioners of customs agencies of ASEM member countries as well as Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation (WCO), and representatives of the European Union and embassies of ASEM member countries in Viet Nam.

In 2018-2019, ASEM customs cooperation focus on four priorities which were adopted at the 12^th meeting in 2017 in Germany, namely trade facilitation and supply chain security, fight against counterfeit goods and enforcement of intellectual property rights, social and environmental protection, and community connectivity and ASEM vision.

At this year’s event, the participants will deliberate these priorities to build specific action programmes to include in the ASEM customs action plan for 2020-2021.

The plan will cover facilitating trade and customs procedures, implementing one-stop-shop mechanism, controlling customs effectively using high technology, promoting green customs campaign to prevent illegal transportation of scrap and waste, strengthening coordination to prevent counterfeit and pirated goods, enforcing intellectual property rights at border areas, connecting ASEM through information sharing, and promoting ASEM cooperation in transit operations and customs management for e-commerce.

The Ha Long Declaration will illustrate commitments of the ASEM Customs Directors-General about goals and cooperation priorities in the future as well as the ASEM customs action plan for 2020-2021.

(Source: VNA)