Select WCO Members and key stakeholders came together to mark the occasion of the introduction of the Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme for Customs at the 10th session of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Capacity Building Committee (CBC) and 18th session of the Integrity Sub-Committee (ISC), held from 8 to 12 April 2019 in Brussels.

The 11 WCO Members identified to be A-CIP Partner Administrations attended both the CBC and ISC meetings and took part in an official opening ceremony of the A-CIP Programme opened by the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Treviño [read Mr. Treviño’s speech here].  Their attendance provided an opportunity to meet each other, the WCO executive and A-CIP technical team, as well as the donor, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and other important stakeholders. 

The ISC, dedicated this year to “Monitoring and Measuring Integrity to Enhance Ethical Climate and Compliance”, featured a panel dedicated to measuring integrity in Customs, a topic highly important within the context of the A-CIP Programme. In this regard, the Programme also funded an expert to come speak on “Behavioral insights in respect of corruption and integrity as a preventive measure”. A-CIP partner administrations’ participation to the meeting will undoubtedly improve their capacity to utilise performance measurement and data analysis in integrity-related initiatives. During the meetings already, several A-CIP counterparts shared their experience and insights on the topics, proving the floor with constructive interventions.

Moreover, side meetings were held directly between the A-CIP Programme Team and each of the A-CIP Partner Administrations’ individual delegations. The current status of each country’s integrity programme was discussed during these meetings, as well as the next steps and way forward for the WCO A-CIP Programme.

More WCO members have shown interest in being part of the Programme. The WCO encourages other donors to enable more Customs administration to benefit from the Programme’s targeted technical assistance and capacity building.

For more information on the Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme for Customs, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org