ASEAN Customs Meeting Held in Singapore

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Jun. 7 – From June 4 to 6, Singapore hosted ASEAN’s Customs Directors to greater facilitate regional coordination of their customs operations. The directors will be working to further integrate their customs processes.

The customs meeting provides an annual forum to discuss strategy and policy for all ASEAN customs operations.

“The meeting is an annual forum that provides strategic guidance and policy direction for all customs cooperation activities in ASEAN. Customs integration is one of the key initiatives that contribute to ASEAN’s goal of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015,” said a statement of purpose from Singapore.

“As part of the AEC vision, it is envisaged that the free flow of goods, services and investments within ASEAN will be achieved by 2015 through the creation of a single market and manufacturing base of about 600 million people. This will result in a more conducive environment for businesses in the ASEAN countries to operate and flourish,” Singapore’s press release stated.

Over the course of three days, the World Customs Organization held consultations with the administrations of China, Japan and Korea. Furthermore, a joint session took place between the Conference of Asia Pacific Express Carriers, the US-ASEAN Business Council and the ASEAN Freight Forwarders Association.