Between 8-10 June invited EU experts from the Customs Authority of the Republic of Lithuania facilitated working meetings with key national partners from the Customs Service of Tajikistan. During the working meetings the compatibility of the national legislation of Tajikistan with the General Annex of the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) was assessed and accession measures on reform and improvement of the customs legislation were evaluated.

The main objectives of the working meetings were to review the national customs legislation and its compatibility with the RKC standards, in order to improve the knowledge of participants about the Convention and its advantages, and to provide recommendations related to accession. Particular issues of customs procedures such as customs control and declarations processing, procedures of temporary storage of goods, check of goods and customs clearance, and use of IT technologies in Tajikistan were discussed and the relevant legislative documents were evaluated and compared with the General Annex standards. 

The benefits of the working meetings were widely recognised by national experts in terms of positive changes in their knowledge, attitudes and confidence related to Revised Kyoto Convention implementation and accession. Having presented and discussed a variety of presentations on national experiences, the experts agreed to pursue their efforts to finalise the process of accession to the Convention. Both EU and national experts underlined that implementation of the RKC principles will contribute to effective and efficient clearance of goods and can significantly influence the economic competitiveness of the countries involved by encouraging investment, development of industry, and participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in international trade.

The participants highly appreciated the communication model of the meeting and the “peer-to-peer” approach used by the EU experts allowed participants to become fully engaged in the topic and hold lively discussions supported by practical examples. On behalf of their respective administrations, the delegates greatly welcomed this BOMCA initiative and expressed their sincere gratitude.

As a result of conducting a series of national working meetings in Central Asian countries, comparative analysis reports will be developed by experts showing the compatibility of national customs legislations with the provisions of the RKC and related measures planned or already implemented by CA customs administrations.