WCO participates at the XLIV Annual Customs Director’s Meeting from Latin America, Spain and Portugal

At the invitation of Mexico's Head of the National Customs Agency, Mr Andre Foullon Van Lissum in his role as permanent secretary of COMALEP (The Multilateral Agreement for Cooperation and Mutual Assistance for Customs from Latin America, Spain and Portugal) and the Director General for Customs of the Spanish Tributary Agency, Ms. Nerea Rodriguez Entremonzaga, as the hosting country, on the 25th and 26th of September, the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa, assisted the XLIV Annual Customs Director's Meeting from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

The opening of the XLIV edition of the Director's meeting, in charge of Mexico's customs and the Spanish Director General for customs, set the scene for the discussions held throughout the following two days. The event gathered Director General's participation of the signing parties of the multilateral agreement and panels on different topics such as Leadership in customs, use of technology, Risk management, among others were held.

The Deputy Secretary General took part in the panel discussion titled "Experience from WCO, IADB and IMF: practical cases and results in the region". This panel was shared with representatives of IADB and IMAF as well as the Director General of Ecuador Customs. Mr. Treviño Chapa started by introducing the WCO approach to capacity building and shared with the participants several initiatives in which collaboration with other international organizations has been achieved. Specific successful joint capacity building interventions in the Americas region, on diverse topics such as organizational development, integrity, gender equality and business resilience, were presented by the DSG.

He concluded by highlighting the need to keep working closely with stake holders and promote cooperation with specific purpose with traditional and non- traditional partners. The representatives of IADB and IMF presented their own experiences on specific topics, while the DG of Ecuador talked about their national efforts in modernizing their customs administration.

The meeting was successfully carried out and closed with a call to COMALEP parties to keep working in sharing best practices and mutual assistance.