A WCO Online National Workshop on Transit for the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan was delivered from 24 to 26 November 2020. The theme of the workshop was “National Transit Coordinator – Article 11 of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation of the World Trade Organization (WTO TFA)” and it was organised with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Through a video-conferencing application, the WCO team of facilitators communicated with close to 50 officials from the Customs Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Opening remarks were provided by Mr. Eldos Saudabaev, Director of Control Department of the State Revenue Committee, Mr. Robert Parker, Regional Trade Team Lead, USAID Central Asia and by the WCO Secretariat, who all stressed the importance of efficient and effective transit regimes for boosting economic competitiveness.
The Republic of Kazakhstan had recently appointed its national transit coordinator and the workshop was aimed at providing capacity building support to the State Revenue Committee to implement WTO TFA Article 11 Freedom of Transit in a harmonised manner.
The online workshop sessions provided an overview of the WCO instruments, tools and initiatives, and presented some best practices in the in the area of transit. A number of sessions were devoted to a discussion on the principle of freedom of transit, the provisions of the WTO TFA and an in-depth discussion on the role and responsibilities of the national transit coordinator.
The workshop was very rich in content and the information, knowledge and expertise shared with us will be of great benefit to our future activities in the area of Customs transit, said a representative of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the workshop closing session.
WCO NEWS