The 86th meeting of the political commission of the Council of Customs Cooperation is held at the headquarters of the World Customs Organization (WTO) in Brussels. Azerbaijan at the event is represented by a delegation, headed by the First Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee, Lieutenant General of the Customs Service Ismail Huseynov.
Azerbaijan was elected a member of the political commission of the Council of Customs Cooperation in 2020 for a period of two years. The political commission is the highest coordinating body of the Council of Customs Cooperation. It consists of 24 members elected from the WTO member states on the principle of regionalism. The commission conducts research on the general policy and procedures of the WTO at the strategic level, discusses political issues related to the activities of the WTO, and makes decisions.
The press service of the State Customs Committee noted that on the first working day of the session the agenda was adopted, reports of the Chairman of the Council and Secretary General of the World Customs Organization on the implementation of the WTO strategic plan, the final report on Covid-19. An action plan and work programs were drawn up.
In his speech, Ismail Huseynov touched on, among other things, important questions about the “Sensitive Borders” paragraph on the agenda. He noted that during the occupation of 20 percent of the international recognized territories of Azerbaijan for almost 30 years it was impossible to control the state border. All infrastructure, cities and villages, historical, cultural and religious monuments were destroyed and mined.
It was also noted that together with international partners, important measures are being taken to cleanse the occupied territories, the opening of new transportation corridors and diversification of international transit routes, which will contribute to the strong world and international trade in the region.
The session also submitted a final report on the action plan on the COVID-19, information on the coordination of WTO work programs and the organization of reporting mechanism on a single basis, and the extension of the mandate of the working group to evaluate effectiveness was discussed.
The sessions will consider the new strategic plan for 2022-2025 and the plan of measures for its implementation, as well as issues related to building the potential in the field of e-commerce, customs and the Green Customs project.
During the event, as part of bilateral meetings, the head of the Azerbaijan delegation Ismail Huseynov met with the deputy chairman of the WTO for Europe Konstantin Mutidis. The parties discussed the activities of the WTO office to build potential in the European region in Baku and the election of the new office director.
In addition, during a meeting with the head of the Customs Service, T. Yun, an exchange of views on the prospects of bilateral cooperation and joint projects between the customs services of the two countries was held.