Laos, Vietnam customs sectors work together
Laos, Vietnam customs sectors work together
The Lao customs sector is beefing up its technical skills to meet the needs of regional integration ahead of the formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
Staff from the Ministry of Finance's Customs Department met with their Vietnamese counterparts in Vientiane on Monday to discuss technical partnership in customs operations.
The meeting allowed both countries to highlight their areas of development over the past year and each made a commitment to work together in the coming 12 months.
Customs Department Director General, Mr Athsaphangthong Siphandone, said the Lao customs sector wanted to learn from Vietnam's long experience in the field.
“While each member of Asean is looking forward to the AEC, Laos is working to ensure its various sectors will be well-equipped ahead of 2015,” he said.
“The customs sector regards technical improvement as a top priority.”
Mr Athsaphangthong said the sector had to deal with several challenges, including illegal goods smuggling and some loopholes in the regulations.
“There is a plenty of work to do ahead of AEC integration; the establishment of the National Single Window system to link with the Asean Single Window is essential,” he said.
This week's meeting also focused on World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles after Laos was inducted into the group in February this year. Vietnam has been a member since 2007.
“I'm confident our Vietnamese counterparts are experienced in WTO and AEC preparation, so we're set to cooperate in several areas,” Mr Athsaphangthong said.
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Vietnam's Customs Department Director General, Mr Nguyen Ngoc Tuc.
During the meeting, the two officials signed a cooperation agreement for the fiscal year 2013-14.
Mr Nguyen Ngoc Tuc also proposed several essential areas be included in the cooperation agreement, including inspection, information exchange and anti-smuggling measures.
vientiane times
