Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 19 /Trend, A.Akhundov/
Azerbaijan takes one of the leading places among the member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program in the modernization of the customs service, a representative of the East Asian Department of Asian Development Bank Ying Giani said on Monday.
The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation, or CAREC, Program is a partnership of 10 countries, supported by 6 multilateral institutions, working together to promote development through cooperation, leading to accelerated growth and poverty reduction.
CAREC helps Central Asia and its neighbors realize their significant potential by promoting regional cooperation in four priority areas: transport, trade facilitation, trade policy, and energy. CAREC has 10 members: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. CAREC also has 6 CAREC's 6 multilateral partners: Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and World Bank.
The tenth meeting of the CAREC Committee on Customs Cooperation began its work in Baku on Monday. The two-day meeting includes seven plenary sessions.
"Azerbaijan is one of the leaders among the ten countries of CAREC in terms of regional cooperation, as well as ahead of other countries in the sphere of customs modernization, introducing the principle of single window," said Giani.
A technical officer of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Takashi Matsumoto said that as a result of measures taken to combat smuggling, the number of offenses have reduced in Azerbaijan.
According to the head of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Aydin Aliyev, it is very important and interesting for Azerbaijan that this meeting takes place in a new format.
He said the main issues to be discussed at the meeting will be the introduction of new models of information technologies in customs, as well as the use of "single window" on the border