Discussion on Strengthening Customs Authorities Cooperation at the 'Korea-ASEAN Customs Directors-General Meeting'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Customs Service announced on the 8th that Commissioner Yoon Tae-sik attended the 18th Korea-ASEAN Customs Commissioners Meeting held via video conference and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between customs authorities.

Since establishing a dialogue relationship in 1989, Korea and ASEAN have held the Korea-ASEAN Customs Commissioners Meeting starting from the 1st ASEAN+3 (Korea, China, Japan) Summit in 1997, continuing discussions to enhance cooperation in customs administration in the field.

Commissioner Yoon attended the video conference at Seoul Customs and took the opportunity to explore ways to strengthen the export competitiveness of domestic companies in line with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP, a multilateral trade agreement among 15 ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries) set to take effect this year.

During the meeting, Commissioner Yoon emphasized the establishment of customs regulations in response to the rapidly growing e-commerce and new trade environments, improving customs administration efficiency through the use of new technologies, and promoting mutual prosperity through the expansion of cooperative projects between customs authorities.

He also proposed discussing the exchange of statistical data to increase the utilization rate of preferential tariffs under the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

In particular, regarding the election for the Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO) to be held at this month’s WCO General Assembly, he introduced the major achievements and election pledges of Kang Tae-il, the current Director of Capacity Building at the WCO and Korean candidate, to the ASEAN customs authorities and actively requested their support.

It is known that Mexico, Cameroon, and Colombia are also competing behind the scenes in the WCO Deputy Secretary General election alongside Korea.

Commissioner Yoon stated, “Taking advantage of the Korea-ASEAN Customs Commissioners Meeting, we will do our best to expand trade with the 10 ASEAN countries, which are major trading partners of Korea, and to ensure that Korean export companies operating in the ASEAN region receive smooth customs clearance support.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.