Quang Ninh (VNA) – The 13th ASEM CustomsDirectors-General/Commissioners’ Meeting opened in Ha Long city, the northernprovince of Quang Ninh, on October 9.

The event, the first of its kind hosted by the General Department of VietnamCustoms (GDVC), brought together 53 delegations from customs agencies of membercountries of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the Secretary General of the WorldCustoms Organisation (WCO), the European Union (EU) and embassies of ASEMmember countries in Vietnam.

In his opening remarks, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuansaid the meeting offers an opportunity for the delegates to seek ways to revampcustoms management, meeting requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,while stepping up cooperation in human resource development and sustainabledevelopment of the sector.

Nguyen Van Can, head of the GDVC, said hosting the meeting demonstrates theGDVC’s efforts in contributing to orienting ASEM customs cooperation amidst theFourth Industrial Revolution and challenges facing the world like trade fraud,terrorism and smuggling, among others.

Duringthe previous meeting in Germany in 2017, ASEM customs directors-generalapproved four priorities of customs cooperation in the 2018-2019 period, namely trade facilitation and supply chain security, fight againstcounterfeit goods and enforcement of intellectual property rights, social andenvironmental protection, and community connectivity and ASEM vision.

Thesepriorities have been the focus of ASEM customs collaboration since 2009, andwill continue to be tabled at this meeting, Can said, adding that the meetingaims to agree upon specific plans of actions on the four priorities, which willbe included in the ASEM customs action plan for 2020-2021.

One of the major topics of the event will be the fight against scrap andwaste, he said, adding that the GDVC has suggested discussions on the greencustoms campaign.

The 2020-2021 ASEM customs action plan is expected to cover eight goals,which are facilitating trade and online customs procedures, implementing theone-stop-shop mechanism, effectively managing the customs sector through hightechnology, promoting the green customs campaign to prevent the illegaltransportation of scrap and waste, strengthening customs coordination toprevent counterfeit goods, enforcing intellectual property rights at borderareas, connecting ASEM through information sharing, and promoting ASEMcooperation in transit operations and customs management over e-commerce.

ASEM is an intergovernmentalprocess established in 1996 to foster dialogue and cooperation between Asia andEurope. Presently it comprises 53 partners: 30 European and 21 Asian countries,the European Union and the ASEAN Secretariat.ASEM addresses political, economic, financial, social, cultural, andeducational issues of common interest in a spirit of mutual respect and equalpartnership./.