The Fourth Working Group Activity of the Master Trainers Programme (MTP) on Customs Valuation (CV) and HS Classification (HS) was held at the WCO Regional Training Center at the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) last week.
Hosted by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) workshop was intended to finalise the development of training materials, which will be used by the participants to deliver training after the completion of the MTP.
In a media statement FRCS chief Customs officer Naushad Ali said Customs valuation and HS Classification were essential in promoting fair trade and compliance which could increase much needed revenue.
Mr Ali said it would also provide data that could lead to robust reporting of focus areas for government administrations towards their trade policy in making our economies further resilient.
A joint endeavour the WCO- JICA joint project, the MTP is meant to develop sustainable and self-contained training capacity within the Customs administrations by developing a pool of well-experienced trainers and regionally tailormade training materials and programs to be used by these trainers.
WCO/JICA Joint Project manager Motohiro Fujimitsu stated that the theme for WCO in 2023 was “Nurturing the next generation: promoting a culture of knowledge -sharing and professional pride in Customs” while the theme for the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) for 2023 is “Fostering an inclusive Customs that promotes knowledge-sharing and integrity for a stronger Pacific”.
The week-long workshop was attended by 24 participants from six Customs administrations in the Pacific Islands including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu.
