The 12th Asia Pacific regional heads of the World Customs Organisation's (WCO) conference opened in New Delhi today. The three-day event has 100 delegates representatiing countries from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Africa, with the the Central Board of Excise and Customs chairman P C Jha, who is the WCO vice chair, representing Indian at the conference.

India took over from China as the WCO vice chair of the Asia Pacific Region in June 2006 for two  years.  The Asia Pacific Region is known for enhanced levels of cooperation and coordination making it one of the more proactive regions of the WCO. 

The conference is meeting to adopt a new three- year regional strategic plan for implementing the various programmes.  

Established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC), the WCO is an independent inter-governmental body mandated to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of customs administrations. The WCO represents 172 customs administrations across the globe and collectively processes approximately 98 per cent of world trade. As the global centre of customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organisation with competence in customs matters.

India has been a member of the WCO since 1971 and has been actively involved in the development of classification, valuation, customs procedures and enforcement.

The WCO Conference provides a platform to members to identify critical areas that require special attention, develop shared understanding and deliberate on issues and concerns of the region and to discuss the possibility of institutionalising mechanisms for the overall benefit of the region.