VCN – On February 28, a delegation of Vietnam Customs led by Mr. Dao Duc Hai, Director of the Department of International Cooperation, attended the first meeting in 2024 of the Subcommittee on Customs Issues (SCCP within the cooperation framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Lima, Peru.
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| Vietnam Customs delegation attend the APEC SCCP 1 in Lima, Peru. Photo: Thuy Linh |
This meeting focuses on promoting the development of content to implement two major priorities of the SCCP Strategic Plan for the 2022 – 2025 period on strengthening the implementation of trade facilitation measures and improving predictability and connectivity of the supply chain.
Attending the SCCP1 meeting, APEC member economies in 2024 aim at fulfilling important priorities of the SCCP Strategic Plan for the 2022 – 2025 period and make efforts to contribute to the APEC digital transformation roadmap set out by the 2023 APEC summit.
At the meeting, Mr. Dao Duc Hai, Director of the International Cooperation Department, Vietnam Customs said the importance and practical effectiveness of APEC cooperation in the past year, demonstrated through jointly developing an action plan to promote trade facilitation. Accordingly, the action plan focuses on key pillars including: simplifying customs procedures and promoting cross-border paperless trade.
Vietnam Customs is one of the active members making efforts to apply technology and digital transformation to promote cross-border paperless trade. To bolster trade facilitation and cross-border paperless trade, Mr. Dao Duc Hai shared, Vietnam Customs sets a goal that by 2025, 100% of customs procedures will be digitized and implemented electronically; 95% of documents in customs records are converted to digital data; 100% of records on organizations and individuals related to import and export activities, people, means of transport on entry and exit, in transit, import, export and transit goods are managed in the form of digital data.
Within the framework of APEC cooperation in 2023, the active and effective participation of Vietnam Customs in APEC Customs projects, including: Project on “Strengthening Services and Smart Supervision of Customs Agencies” to boost the development of free trade zones/free seaport areas” in cooperation with China Customs; Project “Promoting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) linkages in e-commerce and regulations for small and low-value goods with US Customs and Project “Capacity building in self-certification of origin in Free Trade Agreements and Regional Trade Agreements (FTA/TRA)” with Japanese Customs has contributed to enhancing the position of Vietnam Customs in APEC bloc.