Deputy General Director of the General Department of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh (C) at the press briefing

The information was revealed by Deputy General Directorof the General Department of Vietnam Customs Mai Xuan Thanh at a press briefingin Hanoi on October 3.

The meeting aims to fulfill Vietnam’s membershipobligations within the framework of ASEM, Thanh said.

It is expected to witness the participation of53 delegations led by directors-general and commissioners of customs agenciesof ASEM member countries as well as Secretary General of the World CustomsOrganisation (WCO), and representatives of the European Union and embassies ofASEM member countries in Vietnam.

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

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

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

The Ha Long Declaration will illustratecommitments of the ASEM Customs Directors-General about goals and cooperationpriorities in the future as well as the ASEM customs action plan for2020-2021./.VNA