Graz, Austria's second-largest city and the capital of Styria, serves as a vital industrial, transportation, and cultural hub in southeastern Austria. While not a port city itself, Graz's industrial development relies heavily on nearby ports, particularly Koper. This dependence makes Graz a crucial inland connection point for maritime trade, facilitating the flow of goods between landlocked regions and the global ocean economy.
Guatemalan Customs, with the support of the World Customs Organization, held a leadership and management development workshop. The aim was to enhance self-awareness, personnel management, and change innovation capabilities among senior officials, thereby promoting customs modernization. This event is part of a global trade facilitation project, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in building customs capacity in developing countries.
Kuhar Port is emerging as a new hub for international trade in Southern Africa, dedicated to providing comprehensive import, export, and value-added services. This development is expected to drive regional economic revival.
The Côte d'Ivoire Customs Academy held a seminar focused on leveraging e-learning to optimize personnel training and enhance the professional competence of customs officers. By mastering technology, optimizing curricula, and customizing content, Côte d'Ivoire Customs not only improves training effectiveness and reduces costs but also promotes knowledge sharing and adapts to changes. This provides a valuable reference for the digital transformation of customs administrations in other developing countries.
The WCO-JICA MTP project empowers Pacific Island customs administrations by developing local trainers and regional training materials to enhance customs capabilities. The third working group activity was held in Fiji, focusing on strengthening regional collaboration and ensuring sustainable capacity building within the customs administrations of the Pacific Island countries. The project aims to improve customs efficiency and effectiveness through tailored training programs and resources, ultimately contributing to economic growth and security in the region.
The Ethiopian Customs Commission (ECC), in collaboration with the World Customs Organization (WCO), enhances the professional capacity of its officers in the Harmonized System (HS). This article emphasizes the importance of commodity classification, shares highlights from the ECC's study visit, and provides references and suggestions for customs and enterprises in other developing countries. The aim is to improve trade competitiveness through strengthened customs expertise and efficient classification practices, ultimately contributing to smoother international trade flows.
The West Africa Security Project (WASP) aims to enhance border security in West Africa by supporting partner countries in developing and implementing gender-sensitive and inclusive policies through its Gender Equality and Diversity (GED) component. Utilizing the WCO's GEOAT tool and training, the project assists customs administrations in comprehensively implementing GED across human resources, border operations, and stakeholder cooperation. This contributes significantly to security and sustainable development in the West African region.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) provided technical assistance to Timor-Leste Customs, helping to develop a training strategy and plan for 2017-2019. This initiative aimed to comprehensively enhance the professional skills of customs officers, build a robust internal training center, promote customs modernization, and improve Timor-Leste's trade environment. The project is part of the WCO-Norway Customs Capacity Building Programme, which covers several developing countries and aims to improve their customs administration.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) successfully completed a Post Clearance Audit (PCA) diagnostic mission for the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA). The mission aimed to assess the LRA's systems, techniques, and methodologies related to PCA and provide recommendations for improvement, enhancing the efficiency and transparency of its tax administration system. This initiative is part of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD collaboration project, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in promoting customs modernization in developing countries.
With the assistance of the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is actively exploring a data-driven approach to customs performance management. By optimizing data collection and analysis, establishing performance evaluation mechanisms, and implementing cultural change and capacity building, the URA aims to improve customs operational efficiency and optimize resource allocation. This initiative ultimately seeks to better serve Uganda's economic development. This reform practice provides valuable lessons for other developing countries.
