The 16th World Customs Organization (WCO) Asia/Pacific Regional Heads of Customs Administration (RHCA) Conference was held in Melbourne, Australia on 6^th February, 2015.  For the Asia/Pacific region, the 16^th RHCA Conference was the first regional heads conference to be held annually...

The Deputy Director General of Customs (Management), Dato’ Abdul Rahman Bin Othman was re-elected as the Vice-Chair for the WCO Capacity Building Committee during the last 6th Session of the committee in February, 2015. Dato’ Abdul Rahman was first elected as the Vice-Chair of the CBC during the 5th CBC session in March, 2014.

A WCO accreditation workshop for English-speaking Technical Operational Advisors in the area of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) implementation was held at the Royal Malaysian Customs Academy (AKMAL) in Melaka from 10^th to 14^th November, 2014.  The workshop was attended by 14 selected participants from 10 Members the Asia/Pacific region and funded by Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF) Japan.

A ten-day workshop on leadership and management development has been held for the senior level staff of the Maldives Customs Service. The workshop was conducted from 5 to 16 April, and was participated by 20 officers from the Senior Operation Management Team.

Customs marked major milestone achievement in the first quarter of 2015, where it launched two services, namely pre-arrival declaration service. The service was officially inaugurated during the special ceremony held to mark this year’s International Customs Day, by the chief guest Minister of Tourism Honorable Ahmed Adeeb.

The WCO 72^nd Session of the Policy Commission was held at Instituto Ricardo Brennand, Recife, Brazil from 8^th to 10^th December 2014. Twenty eight countries, 3 observers and also the Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) members attended the Meeting. The Asia-Pacific Region was represented by Malaysia (WCO Asia-Pacific Vice-Chair), India, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Singapore, Thailand and Australia (Chairperson of the Audit Committee). The Meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Council, Mr. Zouhair Chorfi from Morocco.

Between 23 and 24 October 2014, the WCO Asia/Pacific (A/P) Vice-Chair (Royal Malaysian Customs Department) and Hong Kong Customs co-hosted a Core Group Meeting on Project CADS to devise a Concept Note for serving as a blue print for the implementation of the Customs Anti-drug Strategy (CADS).

On 9^th December 2014, the Government of Malaysia and the Government of United States of America signed an MoU on Mutual Assistance on Customs Matters. The objective of the MoU was to strengthen, promote and develop cooperation and mutual assistance on matters pertaining to Customs between both parties and to strengthen mutual understanding and communications.

The 26^th Administrative Meeting of National Contact Points (NCP) of World Customs Organizations (WCO) Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (RILO AP) was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka between 11 and 13 November 2014 sponsored by Sri Lanka Customs. The meeting was attended by 30 delegates from 17 Member administrations, six delegates from international organizations such as WCO, RILO ECE, RILO ME, RILO WE, ROCB AP and UNEP ROAP and one Israel Customs Attaché in Beijing as an observer.

From 10 to 14 November, 2014 the World Customs Organization organized an accreditation workshop for English speaking Technical Operational Advisors in the area of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) implementation at Royal Malaysian Customs Academy (AKMAL), Melaka.

The Bilateral Meeting between Royal Malaysian Customs and Japan Customs was held on 12 November 2014 in Kashiwa, Japan.

The WCO and Japan Customs and Tariff Bureau signed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) for the Establishment of WCO Regional Customs Laboratory (RCL) at the WCO Council sessions in June 2014.