Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 17 / Trend A.Akhundov/
European Regional Capacity Building Office of the World Customs Organization (WCO) was opened in Baku on Monday.
The Head of the State Customs Committee (SCC) of Azerbaijan Aydin Aliyev said the center will be a representation of the World Customs Organization in Europe.
"The World Customs Organization has divided the world into six regions, and the biggest of them unites 51 countries of Europe and the CIS, Aliyev said. - And this center will serve the largest region".
According to him, the country to house the center was chosen for four years.
"There were many countries that want to see this center in itself, however, the choice was for Azerbaijan. None of the 174 member countries objected the location of the center in Azerbaijan," said Aliyev.
According to him, opening the center is a great success of Azerbaijan in the field of customs.
Head of Office Vitaly Mikeladze said the Office will focus on the modernization of customs services in the region countries, carry out works to synchronize their activities, take steps to bring their activities into conformity with international standards.
"Another activity of the Office is to transfer to region countries the tools used by WCO, as well as to organize the exchange of experiences among members," said Mikeladze.
According to him, in the first stage, over first six months, the Office will have five people as administrative staff. In addition, the Office will also employ Azerbaijani specialists.
He said the Office will also implement educational functions to train staff in the customs sphere and improve their qualifications. Through such offices, the World Customs Organization offers master's programs in the field of customs. "In the future, Office's co-operation is possible with the Azerbaijani Universities for presenting these programs to Azerbaijani students," said Mikeladze.
The initiative to open this office in Baku was made in 2009 during the conference of heads of World Customs Organization (WCO) European Region Customs Services in Norwegian city of Bergen. The Azerbaijani delegation made a presentation on this issue.
Within the 113/114 session of WCO's Customs Cooperation Council on June 25-27, 2009 in Brussels, the initiative on opening of the organization's only regional office in Azerbaijan was supported and the decision was made to open the office in Baku. At last, in November 2009, a memorandum on mutual understanding was signed between the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan and the World Customs Organization to open the regional office in Baku.