The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia succeeded in preserving its membership in the Customs Policy Commission and the Finance Commission of the World Customs Organization (WCO), after approval of the member parties of the North Africa, Near and Middle East Region at its 138th regional coordination meeting, held virtually.
held at the World Customs Organization in Brussels, and the support of members of the WCO's Board at its session (140/139) on the continuation of Saudi Arabia's membership in the two Commission, during the participation of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority in the meetings of WCO.
These meetings were held between 21 and 26 of June, and stared with the 84th session of the Customs Policy Commission, and the meeting of the WCO Council in its 138th session and ended with the 53rd regional meeting of the countries of North Africa, and the Near and Middle East Region. The Authority's delegation to the council's meetings was led by ZATCA's Deputy Governor for Security Affairs and International Cooperation Mr. Salman bin Abdullah Al-Tuwaijri.
During the meetings of the Customs Policy Commission in its 84th session, many customs issues related to organizational development, revenue package action plan, economic competitive package action plan, performance measurement, SAFE standards framework, WCO action plan for COVID-19 pandemic and e-commerce, the Russian customs proposal, and the European Union proposal were discussed.
In the 138th session of the WCO Council, the Directors General of Customs from the North Africa, Near and Middle East region made a number of decisions. Most notably, a new working group, called “Passenger Facilitation and Control Working Group" was formed.
On Thursday, June 24th, the representatives of the countries in the North Africa, Near and Middle East region met for their 53rd regional meeting. Among the many topics discussed was the region's unanimous backing of Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa to serve as WCO Council Chairman for the fiscal year 2021/2022.
