Vietnam’s customs sector wants to cooperate with APEC member economies and receive financial and technological support from them to develop the sector’s competence.

Participants at the SCCP meeting

Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Vu Ngoc Anh made the remark when talking to reporters of the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the second day of the meeting of the APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP).

He said during the meeting, Vietnam has reported on the revision and supplementation of local customs regulations in line with international standards, as well as the building of an e-customs system.

The Vietnamese government took the occasion to reiterate its high determination to facilitate trade, investment and tourism while strengthening the fight against smuggling and trade fraud to ensure the interests of legal investors.

Anh noted that there are big gaps in the single-window connectivity among APEC member economies, adding that although there have been a number of bilateral connecting mechanisms, the multilateral mechanism in ASEAN is still on a pilot basis.

In APEC, the issue of customs connectivity has just been tabled for discussion, and it is still a long way in realising it, he said.  

The SCCP meeting focused on implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the single-window mechanism, IT application and risk management in customs management, the management of cross-border implementation of intellectual property rights, and the enhancement of cross-border e-commerce.

Vietnam Customs suggested the APEC economies connect the single-window mechanism, increase sharing information about and experience in fighting smuggling and trade fraud, thereby helping customs agencies facilitate trade and ensure trade security in regional supply chains.

The event is part of the ongoing first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM 1) in Nha Trang city, south central coastal Khanh Hoa province.

VNA